You're Still The One
by Rossignol1984
Summary: Brand new SS story! In summer, Seth and Summer prepare to move to NYC together to go to college... but when Summer gets an offer she can't refuse, her plans about college and her future get mixed up...pretty soon, she has much more issues to deal with...
1. What The Future Holds

_Hiya everybody!_

_I'm BACK again, and really happy about it:)_

After a more or less frustrating writing blockade I found an old fanfic idea... and I tried to make a whole story out of it... and yeah, well, here it is:)  
I have to say that it's not gonna be so heavily dramatic as the trilogy, but as you all know me, I can't live without any good drama ;)

Anyways, just some information beforehand: it starts in the summer before college, and of course the story is about Seth and Summer, although a little more focused on Summer since it's her storyline I'm gonna evolve over time. But don't worry, of course Seth is gonna be there too:)

Okay, so I hope you like it, even if the idea might seem strange, but yeah... you have to read it to find out what's gonna happen ;)

Steffi

PS: Thanks to my lovely Sisda and beta reader Sarah for smilie-commenting on every paragraph, and for some tips to improve the plot kiss

**What The Future Holds **

It was a sunny day in southern California, a fact that wasn't too spectacular. The summer breeze blew slightly over the beach, taking a bit of the heat away, and making it more comfortable to get tanned.

Surfer guys came in and out of the water, trying their best to impress all the girls that had parked their perfect bodies only inches away from the shore. The beach was like a catwalk for some people – to show what you got.

Everything was how it always was, and how it always would be. But to Summer Roberts and Marissa Cooper it had never seemed so special before. All their lives they had spent right on this beach, getting tanned, talking about their boyfriends, about school, fashion, music, make-up… the list was long.

But in less than two weeks from now, everything would be different. Neither of them would be lying on this beach, letting the Newport sun tan her perfectly shaped body. They wouldn't see the so familiar shore, and the surfers wouldn't be there to try to impress them.

Because two weeks from now, college life would start. A whole new beginning – and the worst thing: without each other. Marissa Cooper and Summer Roberts, best friends since the beginning of time, would go to college in different cities, more, they would go to college on different coasts of the country.

Summer sighed as she thought about what lay ahead of her. Her boyfriend, Seth Cohen, and her had gotten sponsored a beautiful apartment by their parents in downtown New York City, only a few meters away from NYC college.

Their plans from earlier this year were destroyed as none of them was taken to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. To Summer, it hadn't seemed all too bad, she had never been really sure about what college in what city she wanted to attend, but Seth had had to work a long time on being refused from the college of his dreams.

Most sarcastically, Taylor Townsend had been accepted to Brown, so Seth even had to deal with the fact that a girl had been chosen over him.

After a few days of sadness, both Seth and Summer had decided to attend New York City college, which was also said to be a good university. And it was still on the East Coast, a fact that was very important to Seth – far away from California.

So here they were now, packing up the chapters of their lives to start a new one.

Summer sighed again. Marissa and Ryan would have it easier, at least they were staying in their home state. Both of them were about to go to Berkeley, in a student apartment right on the university's campus.

A laugh from Marissa ended Summer's daydreaming abruptly, and she turned her head to see what her best friend seemed to find so funny.

"Look at that guy." Marissa said, holding her stomach from laughing. Her finger pointed out to a surfer that had just fallen off his board and who couldn't make it back on.

Summer grinned to herself. That guy wasn't really talented for surfing, like, at all. "Yeah, someone really does his best to embarrass all of the other surfer guys around here." She said and pushed her sunglasses up her nose.

The two girls were so concentrated on commenting on the sufer's useless tries to get on his board again that they didn't notice the tall, black haired woman that was standing next to them, thoroughly examining Summer.

Only when the woman cleared her throat, the girls looked up. Summer's eyes narrowed as she saw how intensively the woman stared at them, especially her. If she wasn't already dressed in only a bikini, the woman's gaze could have undressed her as well.

"Can we help you?" Summer finally asked, seeming to be getting more and more unnerved.

The woman knelt down next to Summer and held out her hand. "My name is Fran Hart, I'm from New York City." She said.

Summer raised her eyebrows, but shook Fran's hand nevertheless. "Okay… and what exactly do you wanna tell us with that information?"

Fran reached into her purse and took out a business card. "I work for a model agency there-" she pointed out to the card Summer was holding now, and traced the writing on top of the card with her finger. "It's called 'shorts do it better', and right now, we're in search for new faces for the new season."

Summer's eyebrows rose only higher, and she took her sunglasses away, sitting up. She still didn't get what this Fran chick wanted to tell her. "So?" she asked.

Fran smiled, a thing that made her seem even younger than Summer and Marissa were. "I think that you might be one of the new faces."

Summer let out a tiny laugh of disbelievement. "Sure." She replied. "I think you haven't seen my height yet. Shall I get up? Cuz, you know, I've never heard about dwarves being models."

Fran shook her head and crossed her legs, sitting down completely into the warm sand. "That's why you seem to be perfect. You see? The model agency is called 'shorts do it better'. It's especially for women of your height and smaller. That's the whole concept."

That was a dream. Definitely. Summer had fallen asleep in the hot sun and she was just dreaming. Or there were cameras hidden somewhere and she was about to get Punk'd or something.

Because that woman couldn't possibly sitting in front of her, rambling total insane stuff about short women being models. About HER being a model.

"Anyways, you have the agency's card, my name is also on there. We have a casting in LA next week, and I really think you should come. You really might have a chance to get a contract." Fran said while getting up again.

As she recognized Summer's unbelieving gaze, Fran smiled again. "I know this sounds hard to believe, but the agency really exists. And the casting is really gonna be held. Just call me if you wanna come – I'll tell you the location." Fran said and was just about to walk away again when she turned around.

"Oh, I almost forgot: what's your name, honey?"

Summer blinked twice before she answered wearily. "S-Summer." She stammered.

Fran clapped her hands and looked up to the sky. "Summer. What a wonderful name. That fits so perfectly – please call me, you just NEED to come."

Frowning, Summer nodded and twisted the card in her hand as she watched Fran walking away.

Suddenly, she felt Marissa's hand on her arm, and turned around to face her friend.

"Oh my God, Sum, did that just really happen?" Marissa asked, a broad grin on her face.

Summer shook her head. "I think it did." She answered, studying the card intensively.

"God, you need to go there. Oh please, Sum, this could be so much fun, let's go together, like the last big thing we do before college starts." Marissa urged.

Summer kept on frowning and stared at the card in her hands. She still felt like dreaming. Stuff like that always happened in movies or books, never in real life.

Or did it?

* * *

After researching the internet when she had gotten home, Summer knew that what she had experienced today wasn't just a dream.

The company really existed, and they had so many beautiful girls doing so many beautiful photo shoots for tons of different magazines it still was unbelievable. And an incredible honor to be asked to become a part of them.

To herself, Summer had already decided that she would go to the casting with Marissa, even if it turned out to be a total washout. A little fun between friends before going to college couldn't be that bad, could it?

The only thing Summer had to do now was to tell Seth the big news.

She was sitting on Seth's bed, watching him from behind his back as he scrolled and clicked the internet sites that showed pictures of the models, and the company's concept.

After a while, Summer decided Seth needed to say something, and she stood up and walked over to him, resting her head on his shoulder from behind.

"What do you think?" she asked and bit her lip. She was almost sure that Seth would tell her she was completely insane. But like so many times before, Seth surprised her.

"I think it looks great. And if you wanna do it, then go to LA. Just see how this thing turns out." Seth replied and kept scrolling up and down his monitor.

Summer reached out for Seth's chin and softly turned her boyfriend's head around, making him look straight into her eyes.

"Are you serious?" she asked, her voice sounding disbelieving.

Seth grinned and turned his chair around, pulling Summer on his lap. "Yeah, I am. I mean, if you really wanna do this."

"Are you kidding? Modeling is like shopping all day… new clothes, new shoes… – and you get paid for it! I think it's the perfect job." Summer said and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking quite content at the moment.

"Well, then go to LA, see how this thing turns out, and then we'll decide what to do next." Seth answered and rested his head against Summer's arm.

"Wow, I thought I'd be harder to convince you." Summer stated and played with one of Seth's brown curls.

"Hey, as long as you come to New York with me, everything's fine." He replied and yawned.

Summer raised her eyebrows at her boyfriend's gesture.

"Been awake too long again?"

Seth nodded and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Yeah, playstation marathon. Ryan and I need to prevent for the time we're gonna spend apart."

Laughing, Summer replied, "Well, you're gonna have a lot more time to prevent next week. Coop and I are heading to LA!" Summer announced and jumped up from Seth's lap, running over to the bed and searching for her cell phone. "I'm just gonna call her, then we can do something… what about seeing a movie?" Summer asked while dialing Marissa's number in her phone.

As Seth didn't reply, Summer looked up, frowning. When she spotted her boyfriend, she had to smile. His head had sunk back onto the back of his desk chair, his mouth was opened slightly and he was sound asleep.

It was a picture that made Summer's heart melt. On tiptoes, she walked over to Seth and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I'm gonna be downstairs." She whispered and left the room, letting her boyfriend get some energy to "prevent" for apart time with Ryan.

_Next chapter: LA here we come!_


	2. LA Here We Come Part 1

_Hello everyone!_

_Chapter 2 up today! Since it's like the longest chapter I've ever written, I split it into two parts for easier reading. _

_I'm glad you like the idea of the story so far and I hope you're gonna like what's going to happen next!_

_Thanks so much for your awesome reviews, they really mean a lot to me! Please review again if you read the next chapter and tell me what you think about it!_

_Steffi :)_

**LA, Here We Come! **

**Part 1 – The Arrival**

"LA, here we come!" Marissa yelled and threw her hands up in the air as the girls entered the City of Angels in Summer's blue BMW cabrio.

Summer laughed and turned the music on the radio even louder. "So what do you wanna do, Coop?" she asked. "We have more than two hours to get to the casting."

Marissa shrugged and closed her eyes, letting the warm California wind blow through her hair. "Let's head out to the beach or something." She suggested.

"Sure, cuz that is something we never do at home." Summer joked and looked over to Marissa who wore a stupid grin on her face.

Marissa shrugged. "Sorry." She said and giggled.

For a short moment, Summer had the impression that her best friend was slightly drunk. But maybe too much sun could have the same effect on a person.

Summer pulled on another lane and turned her car to the direction of the beach. Pretty soon, she wouldn't be having those California beaches anymore, so why not have a little fun?

* * *

Only a few minutes later, Summer and Marissa were lying in the sand, once more letting the California sun tan their perfect bodys.

Adjusting her sunglasses on her nose, Summer laughed. "I think I'm gonna be the most tanned girl in NYC." She said.

Marissa grinned and turned her head towards her best friend. "I see you're very self-confident on getting the job." She said.

Summer just shrugged. "Sure, why not? I mean, I am cute and… you know… all the models you know are blonde… I can sense it's time for an innovation." She replied and winked at Marissa.

The girls laughed and laid their heads back onto their towels, the warmth of the sand spreading from their heads through their bodies, making them comfortably tired.

Especially Summer felt the tiredness coming, a thing that wasn't a surprise after the last few days she'd had.

Since she knew that she was going to partake in the model casting, she had been working on the different outfits that were requested by the jury for almost a week. Everything had to look perfect, no, SHE had to look perfect, because this thing that was happening to her at the moment was just too good to be true.

And Summer knew that she had never wanted anything more than getting accepted for the company and start an exciting career as model… well, there had been this adorable pair of Prada shoes she had seen on Rodeo Drive when she had been shopping there with Marissa when they had been thirteen…

Summer smiled to herself as she thought about how much patience and begging it had taken her to convince her father to buy her those shoes. At first he had said no, but for almost a week, Summer kept annoying her father until he finally gave in and gave her the money she needed to buy the shoes.

But where were these shoes right now? Summer scratched her head. "Hey, Coop, do you know what happened to my first Pradas? You know, the ones I got when we were thirteen…"

Marissa didn't answer, and Summer just needed to listen carefully to know why. Her friend laid next to her, her arms stretched out next to her body, a slight snore escaping her mouth. Marissa had fallen asleep.

Summer grinned to herself and closed her eyes as well, feeling sleep coming in very fast. Just before she drifted out completely, she knew what had happened to her first Pradas.

Until today, they stood in the back of her wardrobe, waiting for somebody to wear them for the first time.

* * *

Some time later, a content sigh escaped Summer's lips as the world slowly faded back to her senses while she woke up from her little afternoon nap. In a far distance, she could hear the constant rolling in and out of the waves, a mighty and yet peaceful sound that stroked her ears.

A little louder than the waves were the different voices she heard around her – children laughing and women chatting.

The summer breeze blew over her stretched out body, giving her the same comfortable warmth that had made her fall asleep earlier that day.

Little by little, Summer's senses came back in the world now, but she refused to open her eyes. She was sure she had enough time to capture the moment a little longer.

So all she did was stretch and put her hands behind her head, now slowly opening her eyes to stare into the cloud-free California summer sky. One more happy sigh escaped her mouth when she felt how being awake made the effect of the sunlight making her feel warmer and warmer any minute.

Wiping a tiny line of sweat from her forehead, Summer sat up to watch onto the ocean, letting the breeze that came from its direction cool her skin. She glanced over to Marissa who was still snoring, still in the same position she had fallen asleep in before.

Summer looked back onto the ocean again and wondered if she should go for a quick cooling swim, just to bring down her heated body. She reached over to her purse and pulled her cell phone out to check the time they had left until they needed to get to the casting studio.

When Summer saw the actual time, her blood froze. She ripped of her sunglasses and rubbed her eyes, just in case that she was hallucinating. A second glance at the cell phone's watch proved it. There were only ten minutes left for them to get to the competition.

And as if the shock of discovering that she had overslept on the probably most important day of her life wasn't huge enough, two little boys who were chasing after a Frisbee let themselves fall into the sand right next to her, causing the wind to blow a little sandstorm over Summer's body.

"Damn it, watch where you're going!" Summer yelled at the two boys, shooting them an angry look. Wiping herself clean from the sand, she jumped up and quickly threw her stuff into her bag with one hand while she shook Marissa out of her sleep with the other.

"Coop, wake up!" she yelled and jumped to her feet, rolling her towel into a ball, now nudging Marissa with her foot. "Damn it Coop, WAKE THE HELL UP!"

"What's wrong?" Marissa's croaky voice asked as she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes to find her best friend packing up their stuff in panic.

Summer grabbed Marissa ungently by her arm and pulled her to her feet, grabbing her best friend's towel and rolling it to a ball as well. "The competition starts in less than ten minutes!" Summer cried and ran over to her car.

It took Marissa a little to realize what the actual problem was, she was still half asleep, but the alarming tone in Summer's voice made her run as well, following her friend into the car.

When Marissa arrived at Summer's BMW, the engine was already on, and even before Marissa had closed her door, Summer drove off into the city jungle of Los Angeles, always in the hope not to miss too much of the competition that was about to decide her future.

* * *

Of COURSE they were stuck in rush hour traffic. Of course they were. Because why in all world should they just have some luck? A tiny, small ounce of luck Summer needed so bad right now.

But no. Obviously, God thought that Summer didn't need any luck. And instead of presenting all the dresses that were lying behind her and Marissa in Summer's BMW, the girls were stuck in the middle of a crowded highway. They hadn't even changed their position since ten minutes.

Marissa watched with big eyes how her best friend kept on drumming with her fingers on the steering wheel, mumbling curses to herself.

"Sum, you need to calm down-"

"Shut up Coop." Summer replied and stood half up to see what the cause of the traffic jam was. "Isn't anybody able to drive here anymore?" she yelled over her windscreen, making some of the drivers in front of her turn around.

A young man grinned at Summer who was still in her bikini top and jeans hot pants, still leaning over the windscreen and cursing to herself.

"This is rush hour, lady. It's gonna take a while."

If looks could kill, the driver would have been lying dead over the steering wheel of his jeep right at that moment, regarding the murderous look Summer had shot him as a response to his comment.

"Really? Well thanks for the info, you dumbass." Summer mumbled and slumped back into her seat, sighing theatrically.

Marissa sighed as well and stared into the distance, wishing to herself that this stupid jam would disappear.

A shrill noise made Marissa jump in her seat and she looked over to Summer who was hitting her car's horn now instead of drumming with her fingers on it. "Come on people, let's GO!" Summer yelled and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "This just can't be true. Tell me Coop, what have I ever done wrong in my life to deserve this?"

Marissa opened her mouth to answer when Summer stood up again, yelling X-rated curses right over her windscreen, her tiny hand never leaving the horn. Marissa sunk back into her seat in case someone knew her around here. She knew that any attempt to calm her best friend would fail now.

When Summer had one of her famous rage blackouts, it was best for her environment to leave their hands off her. And Marissa certainly didn't want to get in the center of Summer's aggression.


	3. LA Here We Come Part 2

_Part 2 of chapter two, enjoy! And please review:)_

**LA, Here We Come!**

**Part 2 – The Decision**

It had taken the two girls almost an eternity, but in the end they had managed to arrive at the casting studio – accompanied by Summer's curses and murder threats to the other drivers – but they were there now.

As the girls entered the fancy studio, Summer's mood changed from angry to desperate as she saw how far the competition had already been running. Some of the girls were already presenting their evening attires to the jury, and some of them already seemed to have finished the competition. They were sitting at some huge glass tables right next to the entrance, having cake that was offered on the big buffet right next to them.

Summer's heart sank as she realized that she was too late, and she couldn't prevent her eyes from watering. It felt like her dream was slipping through her fingers, and, worst of all, in front of her eyes.

Marissa stood next to her friend, helplessly, and looked around. It seemed like the competition was almost over, there were only a few girls who stood in a row at the other end of the room right next to the jury's podium. As Marissa saw how Summer fought tears, she laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

Summer sniffed and was just about to turn around and leave again – given the fact that she had no chance at all among those beautiful and styled girls in here – when she saw Fran approaching her from the corner of her eye.

"Darlin', where've you been? You missed the whole first part of the show!" Fran said reproachfully.

Summer swallowed and rolled her eyes, a little of the anger from before coming up again regarding the stupidity of this question. "I'm sorry, it was rush hour traffic and-"

"No time for that now. You are the next to present your dress. I hope you have it with you?" Fran interrupted her.

Summer hesitated and gave Marissa a helpless look. "Where's the dress?"

Marissa's eyes widened. "It's still in the car. Just a sec, I'll go and get it." She yelled, already on her way down to the parking lot to get Summer's dress out of the car.

"But Fran, I haven't done my make up, my hair is a mess…"

Fran just shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. "Either you go out there now, and by now I mean right in this second, or that was it for you." She replied.

Summer bit one of her nails and looked to the door, begging Marissa to come back with the dress. But of course her best friend wasn't in sight. Summer shook her head and was just about to tell Fran she could count her out when she heard two of the girls who were sitting at the table right next to her talking and giggling.

"Look at that chick. She can't be serious." One of the girls said and hid her mouth behind her hand.

The other one giggled. "I wouldn't even go to the beach in THAT outfit." She said and grinned broadly at Summer.

Summer's jaw dropped as she heard how the two girls were talking about her and her appearance, and that was the moment she made her decision.

This couldn't be it for her. She had been looking forward to this job so much, she couldn't imagine doing herself anything else in the future. And she hadn't travelled all the way from Newport to LA for nothing.

She threw a victorious look at Fran and the two girls, put one hand on her hip, and walked over to the empty space in front of the jury, to present her non-existent dress. All she had to show them was the red top of her bikini, a pair of jeans hot pants and some flip flops with cherry patterns on them.

* * *

From the terrible things that had just happened, Summer found it hard not to cry. But she was too proud to cry right now. The other girls, and especially not the jury or Fran should see that she felt terrible on how much she had messed up the whole show. 

With her head in her hands, Summer sat on a brown leather couch, Marissa right next to her, one of her hands resting comfortingly on Summer's back.

Summer was still in the beach look she had been wearing while facing the jury, but she didn't bother to change. It was useless either way now.

"I messed up Coop." She lamented into her hands. "I messed my whole future. In a bikini."

Marissa smiled comfortingly. "No you didn't. Everybody knows that we were stuck in rush hour traffic, so maybe they'll have some mercy on you."

Summer laughed sadly. "Of course. They'll all gonna go like 'oh she was the poor girl who fell asleep on the beach and got stuck in rush hour traffic afterwards, and when she should have been presenting us the dress she showed up in her California beach look'. Like they would care."

Marissa sighed and looked away. She knew that her best friend had a point there. Looking at all the other girls in their beautiful dresses, their hair and make up done thoroughly, and comparing Summer to them, Marissa was afraid that the jury might not even care if Summer was present or not.

"I wanna go home, Coop." Summer's faint voice said, and she swallowed back some tears. "It's useless if we stay here."

"No, let's just wait and see. Maybe you'll get a second chance."

Summer let herself fall back into the pillows of the leather couch and closed her eyes. "I ruined my dream. And I totally blamed myself in front of EVERYone. This is just so typical. My bad luck."

Marissa bit her lip. She didn't really know how to comfort her friend, given the fact that she was right with what she said.

"Just imagine how it could have been…" Summer started again. "I would have gone to the agency in the mornings, get my hair done, my make up done, they'd have given me the cutest dresses to wear… I would have met all the important celebrities, would have gone to their parties… but now…" Summer trailed off, imagining how wonderful her life could have been if she hadn't fallen asleep on that stupid beach.

Summer went on in her round of self-pity. "Now I have to go to college, like every normal person… and I have to study again… I hate studying! Before graduation I've studied enough for the rest of my life! But no…" she paused and sighed, rubbing a hand on her forehead to calm the headache that was coming up.

"And I won't be able to memorize everything I learn in college, and I'm gonna fail all my exams cuz they're gonna be just too difficult for me and then Seth's gonna realize what stupid girl he's with and he's gonna abandon me and I'll be all alone in the end, living together with a dozen cats who I'll name after American Presidents."

Marissa frowned at this very specific description of Summer's life and couldn't help but smile. Her friend was clearly overreacting now.

Summer's eyes shot open as she heard one of the other girls talking to her. "That was a really amusing performance you gave us there." The girl said and stuck out her tongue towards Summer. "I'm impressed by your dress… is this the way you go to a ball in idiot-town?"

Marissa's jaw fell at the mean girl's comment and she was just about to defend her best friend when Summer jumped up and brought her cute face in front of the other girl's eyes.

"Well skank, if I were you I wouldn't have dared to show up here at all." She pointed out towards the girl's hips. "Because having stretch marks without having been pregnant are so not stylish. Oh, and you should definitely work on this ugly cellulites you have there." She gave the girl a clap on her butt and sat down again, crossing her arms in front of her.

Marissa suppressed a smile at this fantastic defence speech of her best friend. Summer's rage black outs sometimes helped a lot to reduce aggression.

Summer watched the girl's lips tremble and saw how the others all stared at her, some shaking their heads, some in pure shock. She rolled her eyes and grabbed Marissa's hand, ready to leave this circus once and for all.

Just as the girls were about to walk towards the door, Fran clapped her hands and asked everyone for their attention.

"Okay girls," she began and went over to the jury to face the crowd of young, small women standing in front of her. "Would please all have your seats?"

Summer felt Marissa's hand clutching hers tighter and she turned around to face Fran. Tapping with her foot on the ground nervously, she felt herself being pushed into a chair by Marissa. With crossed arms, she heard what Fran told them.

"The member of the jury have made their decision. Now what was important here was glamour, esprit, charm, a slim body, and an elegant way of moving."

Summer shook her head and rubbed her forehead. Yeah, presenting herself in front of a model jury in a bikini and hot pants had indeed been extremely glamorous.

Fran continued. "So… on our way through Southern California we found many many girls who would be qualified for the job, but unfortunately, we can offer only one of you to come to our agency in New York. And that would be…" Fran opened an envelope one of the women from the jury had handed her.

Summer looked around to figure out who of the girls would be given the chance of her life in the next few minutes. Maybe the girl with the long black hair over there? Or the tiny African-American girl at the other end of the hall?

"… Summer Roberts from Newport Beach."

At first, Summer didn't realize the words that had been said. Only when she felt Marissa's arms hugging her tightly the news came sinking into her brain. If this was a dream, Summer definitely didn't want anybody to wake her up. But when some of the other girls came over to her to congratulate, and when she saw that some other girls just passed her with an arrogant stare on their faces, including the girl who she had just fought with, Summer knew that she wasn't dreaming. In fact, her dream had come true.

Seconds after Fran's announcement, Summer had still some trouble to believe what she had just heard. She didn't understand how in all world the jury would pick her above everyone else around here.

Fran smiled at her and motioned to join her. "Come on darlin', let's make it official." She said and smiled.

At that words, Summer put on a victorious grin and walked over to Fran with exaggerated swinging hips, shooting all the girls that had been slandering about her only minutes before a spiteful look.

* * *

Marissa waited in front of Fran's office for Summer to come out again, watching the other girls pack up their stuff and dreams and leaving the room. 

It felt like an eternity until Summer finally came out of the office, a more than happy grin on her face, stretching out her arms towards Marissa to hug her.

Marissa jumped into Summer's arms and the girls started to squeak. "This is so unbelievable, Sum! I'm so happy for you!" Marissa cried and started to jump up and down.

Summer laughed happily and joined her friend in the jumping process, not able to get the grin off her face. Seth would be so proud of her. She couldn't wait and tell him the big news.

Carefully, Summer broke free from Marissa's embrace and fumbled for her cell phone in her purse. "Coop, I need to call Cohen, tell him that his girlfriend is a supermodel now." She said and winked.

Marissa nodded and smiled. "And I'm gonna call Ryan. Just… that I don't need to stand here alone." She said and pulled out her cell phone as well.

Once she was outside, Summer had already dialled Seth's number, tapping nervously with her foot on the ground, waiting for her boyfriend to answer.

"Hello?" Seth's voice appeared on the other side of the line, and Summer couldn't hold all the information in any longer.

"Cohen, you won't believe it!" she squeaked and bit her nail again. "They took me!"

"Summer, that's awesome! I'm so proud of you!" Seth said, the happiness and pride in his voice clearly hearable.

"Thank you!" Summer replied. "And you know what, at first I didn't think I'd stand a chance against all the others, given the fact that I just had a bikini available… and you know, they told me they picked me nevertheless because of my natural looks, my beauty and my courage to face the jury in my all California beach look. You know, I didn't even have a dress, and all the others did, and it was just my personality and courage that totally convinced them!"

Seth laughed. "Cool. Unless I didn't understand a word."

Summer grinned. "I'll explain later. Right now, all you have to do is to be happy for me." She replied and leant back onto the wall of the building.

"That's easy." Seth replied.. "I am happy for you."

And right at those words, all that Summer felt was pure happiness as well.

_Next chapter: An End Is Always A Beginning_


	4. An End Is Always A Beginning

_Hi everyone! _

_A new chapter today! Let's meet Summer's new colleagues and Annie, some sort of her closest NYC best friend. But first of all, the Fantastic Four need to say goodbye :( And thanks a bunch to you who reviewed after reading! Please review again, you know that your comments keep me motivated ;) _

_Steffi :)_

**An End Is Always A Beginning**

„Do you realize that this is the last time in like forever that we're hanging out like this?" Summer asked, looking into the three faces around her. She had never had better friends in her life, and she knew that they would always be her best friends.

Summer felt Seth's arm tighten around her shoulders, as if he wanted to comfort her. Marissa and Ryan who sat opposite to Seth and Summer looked both sad, Marissa a little sadder than Ryan.

"I know," Marissa said, "and although this should be a reason to celebrate, it's still sad."

"Yeah, growing up ain't easy." Seth said, trying to sound wise.

Summer punched him playfully in the ribs. "Don't you make fun of all this. Aren't you at least a little sad that the Fantastic Four are gonna be split across the whole country?"

Seth shrugged. "I get outta Newport, that's all I ever wanted. So I see this as a happy day."

The group fell silent again, each of them picturing the months that laid ahead. It was one week before college life would start for all of them, and tomorrow each of them would be moving to their new places on the new campuses or cities. Marissa and Ryan would both move to Berkeley, and Seth and Summer had would be moving into their very own apartment in New York City.

So here they were now, Summer waiting for her modeling career as a short-lengthed model to start, and the rest of the gang looking forward to college life.

"I still can't believe that there really exists such a thing as a mini-model-company," Ryan said.

Summer frowned. Ryan had always made fun of her at that issue. "It's a model company for short women. If the tall women can be models, why can't we tiny persons, too?"

Ryan shrugged. "Cuz I've never heard of a thing like that."

Marissa nudged him in the side. "Wait until Summer makes the whole company popular. Short is the new tall, you'll see." she said.

Summer grinned. "Thanks, Coop. And to you, Atwood: you're just jealous because you haven't been given such a chance."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, cuz I'd really love to be a model."

Seth grinned and waved his hands in the air. "I can almost see it: Ryan Atwood, roughing up the catwalks all over the world, always smiling and being nice." He stopped and looked at Ryan's dark gaze. "Right, just the perfect job for you."

The group laughed. And almost at the same time, Marissa's and Summer's faces became sad, and their eyes teary. Summer reached over the table to take Marissa's hands. "God, I'm gonna miss you so much, Coop."

Marissa swallowed, trying to stop the tears that were about to come. "And I'm gonna miss you." she replied.

Seth and Ryan just looked at each other. Ryan raised his eyebrows as if to show Seth that he was afraid a huge goodbye-crying thing was about to come up. The boys had been used to things like that the last couple of weeks, because everytime Marissa and Summer saw each other, they would start to cry about the fact that they wouldn't be seeing each other anymore.

"Good thing we're so cool," Seth whispered and winked at Ryan.

Ryan smiled. Even though Seth tried to be casual about the whole splitting and moving away thing, he knew that deep down inside, Seth was probably sadder about the college thing than the girls. "Yeah, good thing." he answered and grinned.

Suddenly, Summer sighed. "Guys, I hate to say this, but I really need to do some more packing, and I also need to say goodbye to my Dad and stuff. The plane's leaving early tomorrow." she said.

Marissa nodded sadly. "Yeah I should probably finish packing, too." she replied.

The group stood up and hugged. Marissa and Summer burst into tears as they laid their arms around each other. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Coop!" Summer said, holding on tightly to Marissa.

"And I'm gonna miss you!" Marissa replied, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Ryan and Seth looked at each other. "Not again," Ryan said and sighed.

Seth smiled and grabbed Summer at her waist, trying to pull her out of the embrace. "Come on, time to go."

Summer wiped away her tears and gave Marissa a final hug. Marissa managed a sad smile. "Good luck in The Big Apple, Sum. And don't forget to call when you're famous."

Summer laughed through her tears. "I won't, I promise." she replied. Seth pulled her further away towards her car. The girls waved at each other, and Summer didn't turn around until Marissa was completely out of sight.

Sighing, Summer stared into the distance. She was afraid of what the future would bring, but she was also curious about it. Summer turned around and looked at Seth who drove. She smiled as she saw how the warm summer breeze played with his brown curls. She softly laid her hand on Seth's thigh.

Seth turned his head, looking at her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Summer smiled. "As long as I'm with you, nothing." she answered.

* * *

"Cohen, did you see that view?" Summer screamed as she jumped on the living room couch of their brand new NYC apartment. "I can see across the whole Atlantic straight into Europe!"

Seth came out of the kitchen and wore a broad grin on his face. "So Dad was right when he said that the apartment had a stunning view." He commented and thoroughly examined the living room's furniture.

Summer had stopped jumping on the couch, but she was still amazed by the spectacular view she had over half of Manhattan when she looked out of the ceiling-to-floor lengthed windows.

Seth grabbed her waist from behind and caused her to slump down in the huge white pillows. "What do you think you're doing?" she said and tickled him in the side.

With a broad grin, Seth started to stroke Summer's back, lifting her top as he did so. Summer pushed him back a little. "What, the first thing we do in our new life is gonna be sex?" she asked and smirked.

"Sounds good to me." Seth answered and lowered his head to kiss Summer's neck.

"Nuh-uh, Cohen." Summer said and sat up. "This can wait. We have to stop by the model agency, say hi."

Seth raised an eyebrow. "_We_?" he asked.

Summer grinned. "Yeah, we. You wanna see where I'm gonna earn my wages, don't you?"

Seth shrugged. "Well, as long as you don't want me to go shopping with you." He mumbled and got up.

Summer grabbed Seth's hand and pulled him out of the apartment. "We'll see."

* * *

"Wow, look at all those dwarves here." Seth stated as he and Summer entered the model agency. Being among so many small women made Seth almost feel like a giant.

Summer gave Seth a slight punch into the ribs as she saw how Fran was approaching them. Here in the agency she looked even younger than she had back in California. Summer stretched out her hand for Fran to shake it, but instead of doing so, Fran gave Summer a smacking kiss on the cheek and hugged her.

"Here you are, California girl. Welcome!" Fran said and gave Summer a warm smile.

"Hey Fran, how are you?" Summer asked politely while her gaze was wandering around the huge checkroom.

"Oh, I'm fine." She stretched out her hand to Seth. "I suppose this is your Prince Charming?"

Summer's eyes wandered back to Fran and she smiled, grabbing Seth's hand. "Yeah, this is Seth Cohen, my boyfriend."

Fran shook Seth's hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you. Must be exciting to have a girlfriend who's becoming a model."

Seth nodded and was just about to answer when Fran grabbed Summer's hand and pulled her away from him. "Come on darlin', let me introduce you to your new colleagues."

Glancing back at Seth, Summer shrugged in apology and motioned Seth to sit down and wait for her. Feeling pretty lost, Seth sat down at one of the huge glass tables that were situated across the room and took one of the magazines that were spread across it.

"Vanity Fair. Cosmopolitan. Glamour. Vogue. Elle. In Touch." Seth mumbled the names of the paper's and felt even more bored than he already was. "This is gonna be great." Closing his eyes, he leant back into the chair and tried to bridgeover the time until Summer would be coming back.

* * *

Fran had led Summer into a much bigger checkroom where some girls were putting dresses on.

She clapped to get the girl's attention, and pointed towards Summer.

"Girls, this is your new friend, Summer Roberts from Newport Beach, California." Some of the girls waved at Summer, some smiled, and some didn't bother her presence at all.

Politely, Summer waved back.

"She's gonna be one of the new faces of the fall collection, and starts her new job tomorrow." Fran explained.

"Annie, why don't you show Summer around? Tell her how this all works here." Fran asked a tiny redhead who wore her long curls in a bun.

To Summer, she seemed to be the friendliest of the girls in the room.

"Sure Fran." Annie smiled and walked over to Summer, giving her a hug. "I'm Annie, nice to meet you." She said.

"Hey, I'm Summer." Summer said. "But I guess you already know that."

Both girls laughed and Annie linked her arm in Summer's. "So let me show you how this all works here." She said and pointed with her hand around the whole room.

"This… is the major checkroom. We're putting on our new dresses and suits here. And the room where you entered the agency is the make-up room. Well the name says everything. That's where make-up, hair, and all that stuff is done."

Annie guided Summer towards the make-up room where she spotted Seth sitting at the table, sound asleep. She pulled Summer's arm tighter to her body. "Gosh… this guy is HOT! Aww, I'd love to show HIM around here." Annie said, staring lustfully at Seth.

Summer suppressed a giggle as she saw how Seth's jaw had dropped and he started to snore a bit. "I'm afraid he wouldn't bother about anything here." She said and had a dreamy look on her face.

Annie saw the look on Summer's face and started to smile, too. "Oh, now I get it. He's your Prince Charming."

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't the word 'boyfriend' exist anymore around here?" she asked.

Annie laughed. "Sure it does. You're not here long enough to understand." She replied and smirked.

After watching Seth for some more seconds, Annie guided Summer towards one of the benches that were next to the huge windows and motioned her to sit down.

"I think I need to tell you something about the girls." Annie started, putting on a serious face. "They're jealous. Especially of Newpsies around here."

At the word "Newpsies" Summer jumped a little. She hadn't been away from home for less than one day, and such a familiar word already caught her ear.

"Just don't act like you want to take over the agency because you're much better or something. Then everything should be fine." Annie added and smiled. "They only try to defend their territory."

Summer nodded. If she had felt insecure before, this litte tip from Annie didn't help at all to make her feel better.

Suddenly, Annie clapped her hands and jumped up, yanking Summer out of her dreams. "Need to go now. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow." Summer replied, her face looking stressed.

Annie saw Summer's expression and bent down again, bringing her face ner hers. "You don't need to be nervous. This is gonna be fun, trust me." She said and smiled again. "And if you have any questions or problems… I'm here for you."

Now Summer smiled too. "Thanks, Annie."

Annie gave her a broad grin and disappeared into the back checkroom where she had been before the little tour.

Looking out of the window, Summer sighed. Had she really been doing the right thing, giving up college for this life?

Well, at least she had Seth. Summer turned around to see a tiny line of drool running down her boyfriend's chin, and decided that it was time for Sleeping Beauty to wake up. He shouldn't embarrass her the day before she even started working here.

On tiptoes, Summer went over to Seth and brought her face to his ear. "Sleeping Beauty… the manicure's done!" she said into his ear. At the word 'manicure', Seth jumped up and looked at his hands, his face totally shocked.

Summer stood next to him, holding her stomach from laughing. "God, this was the best joke today!" she giggled, wiping away some tears of laughter.

Seth's face darkened and he grabbed Summer's wrist, pulling her tight to his chest. "You think you're funny?" he asked.

Summer nodded. "Yeah, I am." She said and gave him one of her broad happy smiles.

Now Seth cracked up too, not able to stand his own seriousness anymore. "You are." He admitted and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Ready for take-off?"

Summer nodded. "Yeah, let's go home."

Their hands intertwined, Seth and Summer left the model agency. Part one of entering the world of adulthood was done.

_Next chapter: Real Life_


	5. Real Life

_Hi everybody!_

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed, today a new chapter's up! I hope you like it and if you read it please leave a comment, it really means a lot! Don't be shy on telling me your opinion ;)_

_Steffi_

**Real Life**

A few weeks later, life in New York City had turned into everyday routine for Seth and Summer. Seth had started to go to college and what quite happy with what he was doing. People didn't bully him like they used to in Newport before Ryan came, but he didn't have any friends either. But he didn't feel the need for friends, especially when he knew that he could return home to Summer in the evenings. One true friend was better than a hundred pseudo-friends. And Summer was better than a friends, she was his girlfriend.

Unlike Annie had predicted, things for Summer went great in the first few weeks. People at the agency liked her almost without exception, and those who didn't like her didn't try to make her life hell. It was just some normal bitching around that Summer could compete with easily.

The very first model pictures of Summer were framed by Seth, and he had hung them in the living room above the desk, so that everyone could see them. Not that they didn't get much visits, to be presice, they didn't get any visits, but both of them were happy with life as it was.

And neither Seth nor Summer had been more proud of what they had made out of their lives. Even if life in NYC was stress, they enjoyed every second of it.

* * *

Four months passed, and it was in the middle of January when Seth and Summer first got the feeling that adulthood didn't seem so exciting and good anymore. Everyday life took the magic of living, working and studying in New York City away, causing Summer and Seth more and more to go their separate ways. They barely saw each other, because during the week, Seth was at college, most of the time studying in the library until late in the evening, and Summer spending the days at home, barely working, and if she worked, then mostly in the evenings.

During the weekends, Summer was at work, doing photoshoots and presenting clothes and dresses in shopping centers or on local television, and Seth spent his free time alone. At least Summer had gotten accepted from all the girls at the agency, and in this short time, she had become everybody's darling.

But Seth and Summer knew that they needed to worship the bare time they had with each other, and their love had never seemed so strong and good before.

The evenings, shortly before going to sleep, were the best times they had during that time. The couple used to spend some time in front of the tv, or just cuddling in the bed.

One of those evenings, Seth was typing some report on his laptop, when a very weary and exhausted looking Summer entered the apartment and slumped down on the couch, sighing dramatically. "Myyyy feeeeet are kiiiiling meee." She moaned, stressing the words dramatically long.

Seth smiled and looked up from his report, focusing his attention on Summer. It was interesting how weird she looked sometimes when she came back from work. She always wore make up Seth had never seen before, and in colors he knew you only used for painting garages, and her hair was more a form of art than normal hair.

Today, what was upon Summer's head looked like a bird's nest, and her eyes were surrounded by dark blue kajal. Seth didn't want to admit it, but sometimes it seemed like those stylists at the agency didn't have any sense for fashion or a girl's beauty.

"Youuuuuu waaaaant a massaaaaaaaaage?" Seth asked and walked over to Summer, smiling lovingly at her.

"That would be great." Summer grinned, her tired eyes sparkling in Seth's direction.

Seth sat down next to her. "Undress." He said and pointed to Summer's jeans and top.

Summer raised an eyebrow. "My feet are killing me, Cohen. Not the rest of my body."

"Yeah, but you know, I can only massage your feet if you are completely relaxed. And that contains getting rid of all those redundant stuff civilization brought us."

Summer laughed. "Did you have history again today?" she asked.

Seth shook his head and grinned, taking Summer's left foot in his hands. He gently massaged it with his thumbs and Summer moaned from satisfaction, just like a cat, which made Seth's grin become even broader.

"I have bad news, Cohen." Summer suddenly said, her eyes closed.

Seth's hands stopped as he heard what Summer had just said, and he looked at her, seeming confused.

Summer's eyes popped open and she shot him an angry look that caused him to start massaging her again.

"What bad news?" Seth asked.

"The agency has a big job… photo shoot thing… nationwide…" Summer mumbled as she started to drift off.

Seth put Summer's foot down and went over to where her head was. Kissing her on the cheek, he whispered, "Summer, don't sleep."

Summer opened one eye and looked at Seth, again angry. "Why is your head up here and not down there with my feet?" she asked.

"You were almost asleep." Seth said in self-defence.

"No way, I wasn't." Summer replied. "Anyways, the agency has a pretty big job for the next few weeks… photo shoots, tv walks and all that stuff for a new clothing company. And it's nationwide!"

"Which means?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "Which means that I have to work more. Every day of the week, like from Sunday to Sunday, from early in the morning to late in the evening."

Seth made a pout. "That means we're not gonna see each other like, at all?"

Summer knew that this was a rhethorical question, and therefore she just sighed. "The good thing is, when the campaign is over, I'm allowed to take some vacation."

"Yeah great, and when's the campaign gonna be over?" Seth asked, getting more and more unnerved every second.

Summer just shrugged and stared out of the window into the light jungle of New York City. "I don't know."

After a while, Summer sat up and took Seth's hands in hers. "I'm sorry." She half-asked and half-said, giving him a sweet glare out of her big brown eyes.

Seth lowered his gaze and started to play with Summer's fingers. "It's just… we have so less time together now and I already miss you." He said and pressed his lips together.

Summer knew that Seth was alone most of the time, and she didn't like it either, but she couldn't tell Fran that she just wasn't going to do the next job. That would mean "bye bye Summer".

She cupped Seth's chin in her hand and lifted his head. "We're gonna get through it. I promise."

Seth just nodded in response and didn't say a word. Summer started to kiss him all over his face and smiled. "I think I wanna undress now." She said seductively.

At this comment Seth had to smile again. He kissed her back and grinned. "I think I can help you with that." He said and started to open the belt of Summer's jeans.

* * *

The next day at the agency, there was more hectic than usual. The girls sped around, trying to find their dresses and getting their make up done in a much faster pace than usual, Fran controlling everything and shouting orders at everybody.

Just a few minutes from now, a MTV-team would be coming over to document a day at a "normal" model agency, and the girls had to look perfect for that job.

"Annie, put the black top on, not the red one. The red one's Summer's."

Summer frowned as she held up a blue top she was just about to put on.

"And who's is this?"

Fran rubbed her eyes and tried to concentrate. "Keira's." she replied. "Oh, Summer, sweetie, can we have a talk?" she added and pullled Summer away from the others.

In the last minute, Summer threw the blue top she was holding over to Keira, a cute blonde who winked at her as she caught it.

"But Fran, can't I first put my top on?" Summer asked, wrapping her arms around her body. She was just wearing a bra and she didn't feel really comfortable talking to Fran like that.

Fran waved and looked up and down on Summer. "That can wait. Listen, honey…" she paused and gave Summer a huge smile. "You know, you see the bodies of the other girls, do you?"

Summer frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Um… yeah?"

Fran folded her hands in front of her chest. "Okay… you need to lose some weight."

At that comment, Summer raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?" she asked with disbelievement.

Fran nodded and put on a sympathetic look. "I know this sounds stupid, given the fact that any 'normal' girl would want to have your figure, but still… I think you have a little too much around your hips here." She said and squeezed some skin in the area of Summer's hips.

Summer couldn't reply, she was just fascinated by the ridiculousness of Fran's comment.

Fran interpreted Summer's silence as a "yes Fran of course I'm gonna lose some weight if you say so", smiled and walked away, shouting more orders at the rest of the girls.

The only thing Summer could do for minutes was to stare at Fran with an open mouth, and thinking about what she had just told her.

"Lose some weight." She mumbled and shook her head. "If I were you darlin', I'd be checking my image in a mirror first before talking so much bullshit."

No one would ever tell Summer Roberts to change because he or she thought she wasn't right the way she was.

Because Summer knew that she was special. Giving her figure a quick check in the mirror, she nodded, seeming content.

Fran could lose some weight if she wanted to, but not her.

* * *

One week later, on Sunday evening, Seth and Summer saw each other for more than five minutes for the first time since the new job had started.

They sat at the kitchen table, Summer picking in her food, and Seth higly concentrated on one of his college books.

Although her day hadn't been too long, Summer had never felt so exhausted in her whole life. Every part of her body was aching, and her eyelids had never been so heavy before. Slowly drifting off, Summer dropped her fork, causing it to make a loud noise that shocked both her and Seth, and brought them into reality again.

Seth jumped in his seat and looked at Summer, his gaze shocked. "What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing." Summer replied and rubbed her eyes. "I dropped my fork."

Frowning, Seth laid the book down and took Summer's hand. The huge dark circles around her eyes worried him. "You look tired." He stated.

Summer shot Seth a "duh"-like look. "That's because I am, Cohen." She replied. "I haven't been sleeping for more than four hours for the last seven days, and I'm just exhausted."

"Can't you girls just get a day off or something?" Seth asked. "I mean, this is ridiculous. You look like a walking cadaver. And I can't accept that."

Sighing, Summer shook her head. "We'll get our days off when the campaign is over." Putting down her fork, she stood up. "Will you excuse me, I feel sick."

Seth sighed as he watched Summer walking out of the room. Glancing at her food, he saw that she hadn't been eating at all. Everything was on her plate the way he had put it there some time ago. Shaking his head, he stood up, following his girlfriend in the bathroom.

When Seth entered the bedroom to which the bathroom was adjoined, he heard the faint sound of throwing up coming through the closed door. He frowned, knocked twice and walked in to see his girlfriend sitting in front of the toilet.

Without any questions, he sat down behind her and started to rub her back comfortingly.

After a while, Summer rested her head against the wall, breathing heavily. As she looked into Seth's face, she saw the worried look in his eyes.

"You haven't been eating." Seth said and stroked Summer's thigh with his hand.

Summer nodded, looking embarrassed. "I wasn't hungry." She said.

"Summer, I know you, and I know that you are always hungry." Seth said. "So why don't you tell me what's up?"

Summer closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "That's not true, Cohen. I'm not always hungry."

"Yeah, not anymore." Seth said and sat down next to Summer, mimicking the way she leant her head against the wall. "Ever since that new campaign thing started, you seem to have stopped eating."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Cohen, stop it. I know what this conversation is leading to, and I don't wanna talk about stuff like that right now."

She gazed at Seth who raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have an eating disorder." Summer replied at her boyfriend's gesture. "It's just... it seems like I've become too tired to eat lately. Or too busy. Call it how you want."

Seth nodded slightly and sighed. "This has to stop, Summer. I'm not gonna allow this job to hurt you like that."

Summer let out a laugh of disbelievement and stood up. "Yeah, right. Cuz I'm gonna throw my job away just because there's some rough times coming up. Forget it, ass."

Seth watched Summer taking her clothes off and her pajamas on, walking into the bedroom. She really didn't have too many fat reserves on her body, a thing that many girls were jealous of. Seth recognized how meager Summer looked all of a sudden. Every ounce a slim girl like Summer lost caught the eye, and the way Summer looked now worried Seth.

He sighed and decided to go after Summer to explain his feelings, but as he entered the sleeping room, Summer was already in the bed, the covers pulled up to her nosetip, curled into a ball, and sleeping soundly. A loving smile crossed Seth's lips and he stroked Summer's dark hair with his hand. Hoping with all his might that the campaign would stop soon, he joined his girlfriend in the bed and before his head touched the pillow, he was already asleep.

* * *

It didn't take too long for Seth to wake up again, from a whimpering sound that was produced by Summer during her sleep.

Groggily, Seth turned over to see what was wrong, and he found Summer balling her hands into tight fists, sweat running over her face, her breathing heavy and a stressed look on her face. While her head slumped from right to left and vice versa, she mumbled things Seth didn't understand.

Seth sat up and turned his nightstand light on, dimmed very low, and reached out to wake Summer up from her nightmare. Leaning over, he carefully shook her.

"Summer, wake up." He whispered and stroked her head. "Summer. Wake. Up."

With a scream, Summer opened her eyes, looking straight into Seth's. The same was shocked at the scared expression in Summer's eyes and took her hand to comfort her.

"It was only a nightmare." He said comfortingly and stroked Summer's hand with his thumb. "You've been dreaming."

Summer ran a hand through her sweaty hair, still breathing heavily, and sat up as well.

"I had the worst nightmare." She said and leant her head against the back of the bed, closing her eyes. "Someone wanted to kill me."

Seth reached over to kiss his girlfriend, and at the touch of his lips on her cheek, Summer smiled sadly. "And the worst thing was, the person had already killed you." She added and opened her eyes again.

Smiling at his girlfriend, Seth shook his head. "I'm still here. And you are too. And it was just a nightmare. Nothing else." He answered.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Summer leant her head from the back of the bed onto Seth's shoulder. "I know." She said. "Thank God."

Summer was just about to slip down and cover herself under the blanket again when she felt the sickening feeling from the evening before coming up in her stomach.

Quickly, she jumped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom, hovering over the toilet to let it all come out. The problem was, she hadn't been eating at all the day before, and so it was even harder to throw up something.

Unlike the evening before, Seth didn't follow his girlfriend into the bathroom this time. He just listened to the sounds she made as his mind went crazy on how he could save Summer from getting herself into serious problems... or how he could get her out of the problem circles she was already in.

No matter what happened, the last thing he would do was to watch Summer hurting herself.

_Next chapter: Me And My Girls_


	6. Me And My Girls

_Hello everyone!_

_Thanks so much for your reviews, please keep on reviewing, it keeps me writing ;)_

_So today I'll start off another kind of downward spiral, to give you some more storylines to guess about what might happen in the future ;)_

_Steffi_

_Please R/R, as always!_

**Me And My Girls**

"And then we went to the restaurant. It was extremely posh and I kinda didn't like it there. But hey, who am I to interrupt a great date like that?" Annie asked while one of the agency's make up artists was working on her eyeshadow. She was talking to Summer who sat next to her, getting her hair done, about the date she had had the night before.

"Okay, and so we went in there, we sat down, the waiter gave us the menues, we order… and I have like no idea why in the fucking world I wanted snails… no, excuse-moi, 'escargots'… so these slimy gilbbery things come, I have one… and find myself puking in the champagne cooler seconds after that."

Annie's face turned into a theatralic gaze as she went on. "Well then, after that cute little puking thing, Christian wanted the cheque. He paid and left the restaurant without even looking at me. No good night kiss, no 'I'll call you'… nothing!"

Summer smiled as her friend told her the story about only one of her failed dates. The thing about Annie was that Summer had never heard from her about a good date. One that was actually a success. She shook her head. "So why did you order snails at all? I thought you never wanted to eat anything you don't know."

Annie shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess I kinda liked the guy, and I wanted to sort of please him or something."

"Well, that didn't work out, I guess." Summer said and grinned over to her friend teasingly. The two girls looked in each other's eyes in the mirror that was in front of them and broke into a laugh simultaneuosly.

"I suppose not." Annie giggled as the make up artist told her to sit still. Right next to Annie's seat, Summer's hair was finished and she turned her chair around to face Annie.

"So you won't call this Christian guy again?" she asked.

"Freakin' God, no! This was the top of my date embarrassment list."

Summer laughed and checked her hair in the mirror. It was almost an art form, culred and tucked in different ways all over her haid. She fumbled for a pair of earrings that laid in front of her and put them on.

Suddenly, Annie's hand grabbed Summer's arm, pulling it closer to her face.

"Wow, baby, this is an amazing bracelet! So cute… are those real diamonds?" she asked and turned Summer's wrist as best as she could, examining the bracelet thoroughly.

Gently, Summer pulled her arm out of Annie's grip and looked at the bracelet with a dreamy look on her face. "Yeah, it's three diamonds. Seth bought it for me last Chrismukkah."

In the mirror, Summer saw Annie raising her eyebrows questioningly at the word 'Chrismukkah'.

"What the-"

"It's Seth's favorite holiday." Summer interrupted Annie and started to explain. "You see, Seth is Jewish, as is his father. His mother's a Christian, so he kinda mixed those two holidays – Christmas and Hanukkah – into one…" she stopped when she saw how Annie frowned, a thing that the make up artist didn't really like.

Summer shook her head and laughed. "Well, I guess you'd have to know Seth better to understand that."

"So let's go out together… take the girls with us… then I can meet him." Annie proposed with now closed eyes.

Summer let that idea run through her head for a while. Why not? After last weekend, with her throwing up and being tired and everything, Seth was already sceptic towards her job as a model… this was the best way to show him that the job wasn't so bad at all.

"Great idea. When's the day we only have to work til noon?" Summer asked and continued to put her earrings on.

"Saturday. At least they have some mercy with us on weekends." Annie answered and stood up as she was released out of her make up chair.

"Cool. It's settled then. Saturday. The 'Hippy Chix'?"

Annie nodded. "Sure, 'Hippy Chix'. I hope I don't embarrass myself again." She said, and, giving Summer one of her broad and happy smiles, she exited the room to get dressed.

* * *

Robots were never tired. Right? So why couldn't Summer just be a robot?

Philosophing about the weaknesses of the human body, Summer lay on the living room couch, her eyes closed, as she waited for Seth to get ready. After a long week with almost no sleep, all that Summer wanted to do was to stay at home and relax.

But Seth, the girls and her were supposed to meet at their favorite club, the 'Hippy Chix', in… Summer glanced at her watch and jumped from the couch when she saw that there were only 20 minutes left for them to get out of the house, into the subway, and to the club.

She ran over to the bathroom door and knocked on it impatiently.

"Cohen, what the hell are you doing in there? I tell you, putting on make up won't help anymore."

At that comment, the bathroom door opened and Seth, raising his eyebrows, stood in front of Summer. "Haha. So funny." He said and made a face towards his girlfriend.

Summer shook her head and grinned at him innocently. "I know. I'm funny."

Now Seth broke into a grin as well. No matter how serious the issues were they were talking about, when Summer gave him one of her angel-like smiles, all he could do was to smile as well.

He leant over to kiss her, but Summer shoved him away. "Nuh-uh, Cohen. We're like a zillion minutes late, no time for things like that." She said and headed over to the apartment door while Seth remained standing in the bathroom doorframe.

From out of the living room, he heard a stressed "Come on!", grinned again and followed his girlfriend to meet "her girls".

* * *

Seth knew why the club was called 'Hippy Chix'. Never before he had seen so many pseudo-stylish girls who thought they were beautiful or hip or whatever. Each of the young women who were in the club seemed to be totally arrogant and way too much convinced of herself for Seth's taste.

Except for the girls that were with Summer and him. Annie was a sweet, tiny person with wild red curls and deep green eyes, Keira an even tinier girl with long blonde hair that was pulled in a ponytail, Sarah was also blonde, but not as tiny as the two girls before, and Macy was the biggest of the dwarf parade around him, with chin lengthed, brown hair.

And of course, Summer. Without any question, she was the most beautiful out of 'her' girls, even if Seth couldn't help but notice how thin and breakable she seemed to have become during the last few weeks. He knew that Summer didn't eat properly, and her only explanation for that was that she was always too tired to eat… Seth knew that there had to be different reasons, but he didn't want to worry about that tonight. Not now that Summer was so happy.

Almost all evening, Seth stood in the circle of the girls, just listening and nodding to what they said. Most of the time, they were talking about fashion, about their job, make up and all that stuff that wasn't really interesting for a guy. Well, at least not if he wasn't gay, Seth thought and smiled to himself.

He found his thoughts drifting far away, back to California, back to Newport, to his playstation, and most important of all, Ryan. Never before in his life he had felt a more urgent need to be with a man, a brother even. The day he had to wait for Summer at the agency among all those women newspapers hadn't been so boring and mind-numbing as the situation he was in right now.

Seth really liked the girls he was with right now, and he was glad that Summer had found some new friends she could hang out with and so on, but all he wanted to do now was either sleep or do something really heroic, a thing only a real man could do.

And since he knew that he couldn't be doing anything male or heroic around here, he pulled Summer away from the goup in a silent minute for a little make out session.

After sharing a couple of loving kisses, they broke apart, still their arms around

each other, and Summer smiled at him. "So… what do you think about them?" she asked, her eyes showing that she really wanted Seth to like the girls.

"They're nice. All of them. Although I think that that Keira chick talks way too much." Seth answered and grinned innocently.

Summer laughed and turned her head to see Keira gesturing in one of her monologues. "Yeah, she really likes the talk… typically girl, huh?"

Seth leaned over and kissed Summer again. "True." He glanced at his watch unsurely and looked back into Summer's eyes. "So… um… have you been thinking 'bout when you wanna leave?"

Summer backed away and frowned. "Cohen, it's only like ten p.m. I stayed up longer when I was in Elementary."

"Yeah, but, you know, I need my solid eight hours of beauty sleep, otherwise I'll be having those dark rings around my eyes when I wake up… and you know how much I hate them…" he trailed off when Summer laid her finger on his lips, grinning at him.

"You can go home if you want to." She said. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to stay a little longer."

Seth pulled his girlfriend closer and shook his head. "Nope. Don't mind. As long as I can go home now." He said with a pleading look in his eyes that made Summer smile all over again.

"You're cute when you're impatient." She said and ran a hand through Seth's wild brown curls.

Seth grinned and kissed Summer again. "I know."

Their kiss was interrupted when a someone bumped into them and caused them to lose their equilibrium.

"Ooops, I'm so sorry you sweethearts! I didn't mean to interrupt!" A very tipsy Macy yelled as she balanced two cocktails in her hands, giving Seth and Summer a broad grin, showing all of her teeth.

Seth laughed. "No problem." He focused his attention back to Summer. "Just don't stay out too long, okay? Maybe we can do something when you come home…" he suggested in his seductice voice Summer loved so much.

She grinned broadly. "We'll see. Maybe I'll need a massage." She said and winked.

Seth gave his girlfriend a last goodbye kiss and left the club, waving at the other girls as he headed for the door.

With jumping steps, Summer went over to her friends only to find a drink being pushed in her hand by Macy. "Bought this for you. We decided we need to celebrate, ya know."

"Celebrate what?" Summer asked.

"Hey, California, we don't care what we're celebrating." Annie said and laid an arm around Summer's shoulder. "We just do it."

Grinning into the round of girls, Summer raised her glass, for the first time in weeks actually feeling great.

* * *

As the evening proceeded, the girls got more and more drunk, first and foremost Macy who had one drink after the other.

Just before things got really crazy among the girls, Summer and Keira went away from the others into a quieter corner of the club.

Before their buns even touched the couches, Keira had already started to talk. "God, I hate it when they do that." She said and pointed over to Macy, Annie and Sarah who we're just having another toast on something they probably didn't even remember.

Summer smiled and sighed. "Yeah, I think they should know when to stop." She said and put a hand on her neck to massage it.

"You okay?" Keira asked and frowned at Summer.

Summer sighed again. "Yeah… I just…" she turned around and faced the blonde. "Don't you ever feel like, so exhausted you think you're not gonna make it through the day?"

Keira hesitated and shrugged. "Well, sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on so many things. Why?"

Summer bit her lip. "I don't know… I… since the new job began, I feel nothing but tiredness… last week I couldn't even keep my eyes open during dinner with Seth. And I guess it's just the exhaustion and everything, but I have to throw up almost every night, and I have those terrible nightmares of people wanting to kill me…"

Keira pressed her lips together as she listened to Summer. When Summer was finished, she took her hand and looked her in the eyes intensively.

"I always wondered how you manage all the stress… you should know that WE all…" she pointed over to the three other girls, "have little helpers to get through it."

At the words 'little helpers', Summer's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Keira held up her forefinger and reached for her purse, looking through it. After a while, she pulled out a tiny bag with little pills in it, always careful to hide it from the other's sights.

"This is some new stuff." She said conspirationally and grinned. "Helps you to stay focused, gives you energy."

Summer's jaw dropped as she slowly realized that Keira was just offering her drugs to improve her mental and physical state.

She held up both of her hands and moved away a little from Keira. "Do ALL you girls take that stuff?" she asked in a disbelieving voice.

Keira shook her head. "No, this is new, like REALLY new. You're the first one to have it." She said, almost a little proud of the offer she was making Summer right now.

Summer shook her head and stood up. "No, Keira, I never took drugs. And I never will." She said and reached for her purse.

"Will you excuse me, I think I need to get home now. Seth's waiting."

Without waiting for an answer, Summer ran over to the club's exit and headed for the subway station as fast as she could, trying to get away from the club and Keira's little bag as far as possible.

_Next chapter: Life Goes Down_


	7. Life Goes Down

_Hi everyone!_

_Thanks so much for your reviews! Please keep on reviewing, because only then you keep me motivated to keep on writing:)_

_Steffi_

**Life Goes Down**

When Summer came home that night, she was more confused than she had been ever before. When she entered the apartment, she closed the door behind her and leant against it. Totally lost in thought, always seeing that tiny pills in Keira's hands in front of her, she didn't notice Seth coming out of the bedroom, a sleepy look on his face and wearing just a pair of jogging pants.

"Hey, back home?" Seth asked with a croaky voice, scratching his bare chest.

As she had been completely unaware of Seth's presence in the room, Summer jumped and let out a tiny scream.

"God Cohen, do you wanna give me a heart attack?" she asked while putting her jacket off.

Seth held up his hands in apology. "Sorry." He said. "Didn't mean to frighten you." He tapped over to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Did you have fun?"

Summer frowned and bit her lip. "Yeah." She replied and made her way to the bedroom, Seth always following her like a stray puppy.

"I hope the girls didn't get too drunk?" Seth asked and slumped down on his side of the bed, pulling the blankets over his body as he watched Summer undress and getting into her pjs.

Summer shook her head. "It was ok." She answered. "I talked to Keira most of the time… she was more sober than the others."

_Instead of being drunk, she was getting high_, Summer thought as she laid down next to her boyfriend.

Pulling the blanket over her body, she moved closer to Seth, resting her head on his chest. Ever since they had moved to New York, Summer had never felt the urge to be close to Seth more than tonight. Just as if he could feel Summer's mixed up feelings, Seth lay an arm around her and pulled her only closer to him.

"I really like the girls." He said. "Glad to see you've made some friends here."

Summer smiled sadly and traced Seth's chest with her finger. "Mhm."

Seth lifted his head and frowned down at Summer. "Everything okay?" he asked and began to play with strands of Summer's hair.

All of a sudden, Summer lifted her head again and smiled mischieviously at Seth, laying a finger on his lips. "No more talking, Cohen." She said, putting off the top of her pjs, and leant down to pepper Seth's bare chest with thousands of kisses.

Seth pulled her face closer and kissed her, his puppy brown eyes sparkling, forgetting about Summer's strange mood at the offer that was made to him right now. "Whatever you say, Summer." He said and grinned broadly. "Yes. Yes."

At that little journey back to their High School years, both of them started to laugh. It was the perfect start for an even more perfect night.

* * *

Ater they had made love, the couple had fallen asleep in each other's arms, Seth spooning Summer from behind.

The ending of the evening could have been so peaceful if Summer's nightmare hadn't returned, this time more vividly than the first time.

Seth woke up from a punch in his stomach that Summer gave him with her elbow while fighting her bad dream. Carefully, Seth stroked some of Summer's hair out of her face to see that she was all sweaty again, her face full of fear. He gently shook her to wake her up.

"Summer, hey…"

Suddenly, Summer spun around, facing him, her eyes wide open. "God Seth." She whispered and threw her arms around his neck, clinging tight onto him. "It was terrible. The killer was back…"

Seth placed kisses all over Summer's head to show her he was there. "Just a dream." He mumbled.

Summer slowly pushed him away and sat up. "God, what is that with this killer nightmare? It's always so vivid…" she said and frowned.

Seth sat up too. "Maybe it's because of the stress you have at work…"

Summer closed her eyes and sighed. "Cohen, stop that. My work is not the problem for my nightmares. How ridiculous is that?"

Seth shrugged. "I've read it… psychological stress affects your subconsciousness and that creates your dreams… so-"

"God, shut the hell up." Summer said and stood up, walking towards the living room door. "I'm okay."

Seth got up as well and followed Summer into the kitchen where she got herself some coca cola out of the fridge.

"No, Summer, it's obvious that you're not." He said and leant onto the kitchen counter with crossed arms.

Summer took a sip of the coke and shrugged. "Well, okay, then I had some stress. But it's gonna be less when the campaign is over." She said and walked out of the kitchen into the living room.

Seth rolled his eyes and reached out for Summer's arm, making her spin around. "Let go of me!" Summer yelled and pushed Seth's hand away, making her way towards her bed again.

"You have a problem and we need to discuss it." Seth said and ran after her, jumping in front of the bedroom door to block Summer's way.

Summer shot Seth one of her killer looks. "You know what we need to do? We need to go to sleep so I can get some rest… otherwise I won't be able to make it through the next week." She said, pushed Seth away and made her way over to the bed.

Unnerved, Seth shook his head and went over to the living room table to switch his laptop on.

"Aren't you coming?" Summer's voice asked out of the sleeping room.

Seth sighed. "I'm not tired anymore."

Inside the sleeping room, Summer shrugged and turned the lights off. She wasn't really in the mood for discussions with Seth, and if he wanted to be mad at her she wouldn't stop him.

* * *

The smell of fresh brewed coffee woke Summer up again. She glanced at her alarm clock and saw that it was almost 6:30 in the morning. She let out a huge sigh and covered her face with one of the pillows, feeling a terrible headache coming up. And as if that hadn't been enough, her stomach signalized her again that it was sick and she had troubles to suppress the urge to throw up again.

Her head still under the pillow, her hand wandered over to Seth's side of the bed to find it empty. A yawn escaped her mouth and all of a sudden, the sickening feeling became so urgent that she had to run into the bathroom once again, this time hovering in front of the toilet without throwing up. False alarm.

After a few minutes, she shook her head and stood up to watch herself in the mirror. It was only now that she saw what Seth talked about all the time. She looked terrible. The dark circles around her eyes made her seem like New York's biggest drug addict, her collar bones stuck out of her body, her hair was flat and her skin pale.

Scratching her head, Summer wondered what miracles the make up artists always did to her when she came by the agency in the morning. Or had she always looked that terrible without noticing it? The sickening feeling decided to come back again, but Summer decided to ignore it. No matter what problems her body had, this permanent throwing up gave her the creeps.

She turned on the cold water and splashed it in her face, feeling refreshed again. Well, at least a little refreshed. Swallowing against the urge to throw up again, she followed the smell of the coffee instead.

At the kitchen counter, reading the newspaper, Summer spotted Seth. He didn't talk to her and instead of saying good morning he held up a hand and took a slurp form his coffee.

Summer cleared her throat and sat down opposite of Seth at the kitchen counter. "You're already up." She stated and played with a tea spoon that lay on the counter.

"Haven't been to sleep again." Seth replied and turned the newspaper's page around. Without looking up, he pushed a full cup of coffee over the counter, offering it to Summer. "No milk, two sugar. Just how you like it." He said.

Sighing, Summer took the cup. "Thank you." She said guiltily and smelled the coffee, hoping it would wake her up. But no matter what she smelled, drunk or ate, everything seemed to be making her sick again. And thinking about being sick made her feel tired and exhausted. It was definitely a vicious circle she was in.

Summer swallowed. Seth was right. The work was eating her alive. But for now, she was too proud to admit that – whether it was to Seth or to herself.

Not having touched the coffee, Summer cleared her throat again. "I gotta go." She said. "To work. I'll be back in the late afternoon."

As a response, Seth only nodded. "Say hi to the girls for me."

Summer bit her lip. She took a deep breath to apologize to Seth for having been so rude on him the night before, but decided not to. She had her pride as well. Maybe Seth would apologize to her when she came home later.

* * *

When Summer was gone, Seth laid down the newspaper and propped his head in his hands.

He didn't like what was going on with his girlfriend. First of all, she had lost too much weight for her size, and she looked uncomfortably thin. Then her outer appearance had changed so much it frightened him. When they had been living in Newport, it didn't require too much make up for Summer to look beautiful. In fact, it didn't require any make up at all. But now Seth sometimes thought that even the make up had its problems to hide Summer's troubles under it.

And then there were her nightmares. Never before Seth had seen Summer so frigtened than when she woke up from her nightmares. In fact, he had never seen people being so upset and scared by nightmares than she was. Whatever Summer's problem was, with that nightmares, her psyche was telling her to solve it.

From all problems, Seth could have managed to live with her changed outer appearance the best. It was the personality change in Summer that scared him.

Back home, Summer had had a huge diversity of character features. She had been superficial on the one hand, regarding clothes and everything, but on the other hand, she always dugged much deeper into peoples' personalities, to find out who they really were.

She had been strong, emtionally and physically, and now she was tired and exhausted all the time. She had been funny and loving, and all that she was now was bitchy and depressed.

Seth sighed and wondered if Summer recognized her own changings as well. But obviously, she didn't. The old Summer Roberts, the one he had fallen in love with, would never have permitted that work, her problems there and her permanent stress would ruin her in the way they ruined her now.

The new, all-changed Summer Roberts didn't care. This couldn't go on like that anymore. Seth knew he couldn't tolerate the charade Summer played on him and herself any longer. When she came today in the evening, she had to end this modeling thing – once and for all.

* * *

"California, here you come!" Annie yelled as she saw Summer entering the agency. Like a little child, she jumped over to Summer and hugged her good morning. "I thought you'd be lying dead at home, with the world's worst hangover." She said and grinned innocently.

Summer took off her coat and hung it in the wardrobe, frowning. "I guess I could say the same thing about you." She said as she remembered how drunk Annie had been the night before. "You weren't able to stand straight anymore."

Annie laughed and waved with a hand. "Pah, no probs for me. You're gonna get used to it, too, California. This is how it's done in New York City."

Summer gave Annie a weak smile and passed her without looking into her eyes. Suddenly, she felt Annie's strong grip on her arm, making her stop. "Something wrong, California?" Annie asked with a worried look in her eyes.

Summer hesitated and looked around her to see if anybody else was listening. As she saw that two of her colleagues, sitting at the table right behind her, had just interrupted their chat to see what was going on between Annie and Summer, she pulled Annie out of their hearing distance in the direction of the floor lengthed windows.

"Sit." She ordered her friend and sat down right next to her. "I need to tell you something."

Annie's eyes widened in excitement. "Ooooh, a secret! I LOVE secrets!" she squeaked and clapped her hands. As she saw that Summer's face stayed serious, she put her hands down into her lap, erasing the smile off her face. "I'm sorry. Go on."

Summer played with one of the ribbons that were on her purse and avoided Annie's gaze. She needed to find the right words first. "You know, why I've been away so suddenly…" she started.

Annie nodded. "Yeah?"

Summer sighed and looked into Annie's dark green eyes. "You have to promise me that you won't tell anybody, especially not Fran."

Annie's eyes widened again. She couldn't help it, but she _really_ loved secrets, and it was hard for her to hide her excitement about it. "Okay." She replied and nodded.

Summer cleared her throat. "Okay." She repeated. "So Keira and I went into this quieter corner of the club, you know to talk… I mean, you guys were just way too drunk…" Summer said and raised an eyebrow, showing Annie that she didn't really approve her drinking behavior from the night before.

Annie's face didn't change an inch, and so Summer went on. "And I was talking to her about how tired and exhausted I feel all the time, and that I don't know how to make it through the next day…" she trailed off to see Annie nodding.

Summer sighed. "And then she offered me something from what she said 'might help me'."

Annie frowned. "Like what? Vitamin C?" she asked, an amused look on her face.

Summer shook her head. "God, can't you just stay serious?" she asked.

Annie looked down, ashamed. "Okay, I'm sorry."

Summer leant over to Annie's ear so nobody else could hear what she was about to say. "It were drugs, Annie. Keira's offered me drugs."

Hearing that information, Annie's face became pale and she started to bite her lip nervously. "Really?" she asked with an insecure tone in her voice.

"Yeah! I mean, I was shell shocked!" Summer said and shook her head as she thought about it again, not aware of Annie's strange reaction.

"That… yeah, I'm shocked too." Annie said, her eyes wandering up and down the street outside. "How…" she trailed off, her face looking distant. Looking into Summer's eyes, Annie stood up. "You know what, I need to get my hair done… I mean, there's this huge thing in Central Park today and I need to look good…" she said and went away from Summer, not facing her again.

Summer was confused by Annie's behavior. "Taking it pretty hard, huh?" she mumbled and looked out of the window, sighing.

"Summer, sweetie, make up's waiting!" Fran's voice yelled from behind Summer's back. Summer let out a huge sigh and stood up. "Coming, Fran!" she yelled back and made her way to make up and hair, always thinking about how shocked Annie had been at the news.

_Next chapter: What I Would Do For You_


	8. What I Would Do For You

_Hi people!_

_A big thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are great! Please keep on reviewing, you know that it keeps me writing ;)_

_Today we're nearing the actual plot... and we have a cliffhanger at the end..._

_Enjoy and please review!_

_Steffi_

**What I Would Do For You**

When Summer came home in the evening, Seth already awaited her with a huge dinner he had cooked all by himself. His cooking skills were definitely better than those of his mother, although she really had learned to cook after she had been to rehab.

Seth had figured that what he had to tell Summer should be accompanied by a nice dinner, that probably wouldn't make the whole thing he had to tell her so bad. He lit two candles on the kitchen counter and put on a huge grin to greet Summer.

He had expected her to be grumpy and unnerved as she was every day when she came back from work, but today, she wore a big grin and jumped while she went over to him, smacking a huge kiss on his lips.

"What a wonderful evening!" she said and went over to the fridge to get herself some coke.

Seth stood as if he was paralyzed, his eyes wide open. He lifted his forefinger and looked around as if he was searching for something. "Who are you, and what have you done to my girlfriend?" he asked.

Summer put her head out of the fridge and laughed. "It's me, Cohen. Is it so strange that I'm in a good mood?"

Seth nodded. "Frankly, yes."

Grinning, Summer went over to him and kissed him again. "You're so cute." She said and sat down at the counter. "That smells delicious. What are we having?"

With narrowed eyes, Seth brought his face close to hers and smelled her breath.

Summer frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm checking if you're drunk."

Laughing, Summer cupped his face in her hands and shook it. "No, I'm not." She said. "I have some good news. Great news, actually."

"You do?" Seth said. "That's good, cuz I wanted to talk to you about something that you might not like."

Summer shook her head and took a sip from her coke. "No matter what it is, it can't be so bad to ruin my good mood."

Seth grinned insecurely and opened the oven to get their dinner out of it.

He served the noodle soufflé and sat down. "So what are the great news?"

Summer wasn't able to respond since she already had her mouth full of noodles. It felt like her whole body was craving for some food, and she just couldn't stop herself from eating. It scared her a little that she already had seemed to forgotten how good it was to eat.

Seth was relieved to see with which huge appetite his girlfriend was eating the dinner. Maybe she had been right, and she had just had some bad days. Maybe there weren't any problems.

"No, you go first. I always like to hear bad news first." Summer said with her half full mouth.

Seth hesitated and put down his fork. "You know…" He paused as he saw how concentrated Summer was on her noodles. "Are you listening?"

With big eyes, Summer looked up, her cheeks full with food, nodding enthusiastically.

Seth couldn't help but smile. The image that was in front of his eyes was just too cute. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your job."

Summer swallowed and nodded. "This is what I wanted to talk to you about, too." She said.

"You did?"

"Yeah. The great news. Remember?"

Seth just nodded in response.

"The campaign's gonna be over on Friday!" Summer sung and clapped her hands. Just as she realized that she had given away her good news, she put a hand in front of her mouth. "Stu-pid." She mumbled and looked at the table.

Seth smiled and reached over to touch Summer's arm. "Is that true?"

Summer nodded and had already another portion of noodles in her mouth.

"You're eating like you're almost starved." Seth said.

"Believe me, Cohen, I am." Summer answered.

Seth shook his head. "So… the campaign's over. That means less stress?" he asked.

Summer shrugged. "If it was a success, we're gonna have much bigger projects. But the good news is that we're allowed to take a whole weekend off." She said.

Seth hesitated to answer. He didn't know if he should like the news or not. It was great that this stupid campaign that was taking away his girlfriend would be over. But if a success meant that there was even more work… Seth immediately felt bad for not being happy for his girlfriend. So he decided to keep his bad news to him. They would see what was going to happen soon enough.

"You wanted to talk to me about work?" Summer asked and put some more food on her fork.

Seth shook his head and smiled. "Not so important anymore." He answered and started to eat as well.

* * *

On Saturday, Fran was planning to throw a huge party due to the successful end of the nationwide "Shorts do it better" campaign.

After all the work everyone had put in the project, the girls deserved to have a little fun. No, a whole weekend of fun. On Saturday evening, Summer stood in the bathroom, just getting her make up done when the sickening feeling in her stomach returned. Ever since she had found out that the campaign would be over, she hadn't had this feeling anymore.

Until today. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying her best to avoid sitting in front of the toilet again. "Thank God this campaign is over." She mumbled. "Then this is gonna stop soon."

"What's gonna stop soon?" Seth's voice asked from out of the bedroom.

Summer spun around. "Are you spying on me?"

Seth grinned broadly. "Maybe a little."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Veeery funny." She said and smiled as well. As she noticed that Seth was still in his jogging pants, she raised an eyebrow. "Aren't gonna get dressed?"

Seth stepped from one foot to the other uneasily. "Umm… listen, I…"

Summer turned around and grinned. "You don't wanna come?"

Seth nodded and gave her one of his famous puppy looks. "Not… really. If that's okay with you."

Smiling, Summer went over to Seth and stroked his cheek with her hand. "No it's not." She said, her face serious. "In fact, I wanna force you to come with me."

Seth laughed and kissed her. "You're the best." He said and hugged her.

Summer grinned happily. "I know. I am."

"Have fun with the girls. And tomorrow, it's just gonna be you and me. Deal?" Seth suggested.

That was an offer Summer just couldn't refuse. "Deal. Sounds perfect."

* * *

Just like every time the girls were supposed to meet somewhere, Annie was the first to spot Summer when she entered the club where the party was held.

"Caliiiiiiiiifoooooorniaaaaaaa!" she screamed and ran over to Summer, hugging her tight. "I almost thought you wouldn't be coming anymore!"

Summer laughed. "Geez Annie, calm down." She said and grinned. "You can have fun without me too."

Annie shook her head with big eyes. "Nuh-uh. A party's not a party without the California sun." she replied and winked.

Summer narrowed her eyes. "Are you drunk already?" she asked, an amused look on her face when Annie nodded enthusiastically. "Sure!" Annie answered and grabbed Summer's wrist. "And we'll do out best to make you drunk too!"

Summer laughed hard as Annie dragged her through the club to a table where all "her" girls were, including Fran.

"Honey, you're late!" Fran yelled and waved friendly at Summer. The same shrugged and gave the group one of her innocent smiles. "Hey, I have a Prince Charming to take care of." She said and winked.

"Oh, you brought him with you?" Macy asked and stretched her throat to look for Seth, a big smile on her face.

Summer raised an eyebrow at Macy's reaction. "No I haven't."

"Oh, crap." Macy said and took a sip of the cocktail in front of her. "I'm getting tired of all those girls here."

Summer glanced around and saw what Macy was talking about. There was not a single male person in the whole club. It were either her colleagues or their friends. She grinned back. "So's Seth, I guess." She said and winked at Macy who stuck out her tongue teasingly.

"Come on, California, here's your drink!"

Summer sighed and turned around to see an extremely happy Annie standing in front of her, a deep red cocktail in her hand. "Come on! You're gonna like it!"

"For God's sake, Annie, how can you be SO drunk already?" Summer asked and frowned.

"Practice, California. Just practice. And a lot of stamina."

Before Summer could respond, Fran raised her glass. "Now that everyone has a drink, I want to make a toast."

The girls all raised their glasses.

"First of all, I want to thank you for the outstanding work all of you have done during the campaign. The clothing company is very content with the campaign's results. And they offered us a bigger project."

The girls around Fran applauded at these good news.

"But how much bigger can it get?" Sarah asked. "The campaign was already nationwide."

Fran broke into a huge grin. "They plan on expanding their range of goods to Europe and Asia." She answered and shot the girls a meaningful look. "So the next campaign's gonna be almost a world wide thing."

More applause filled the room, and some girls hugged each other and squeaked at that information.

Summer watched the whole scenery with mixed feelings. She still hadn't recovered from the stress and exhaustion of the last campaign, and now there was another one ahead, an even bigger one, which meant much more work and much less sleep. But she didn't want to ruin the good mood, so she put up one of her famous smiles and joined in the cheers over the agency's success.

* * *

Later that evening, Summer had excused herself to the bathrooms to freshen up a little. Mostly she had gone there to think about her future, and how she would be able to take the new stress. A world wide campaign would maybe require her to travel, and that meant she couldn't be together with Seth for weeks perhaps.

Summer propped herself on the sink and closed her eyes, her head spinning, the amount of cocktails that were circulating through her body doing their best to increase the spin.

Tonight was the first time ever since Summer regretted to have started to work for "Shorts do it better". What was going on with her was insane, and Seth had told her that she had problems a long time ago, but, just typical Summer, she didn't want to listen.

But she couldn't give up the job either. Firstly, that would ruin her future completely. She didn't want to go to college, but she didn't want to sit at home all the time either.

And how stupid would it be from her to give up her dream, to give up the profession she had always dreamt to be in, ever since she had been a little girl and had dressed in her mother's clothes and way too big shoes?

Plus, God would probably be very angry at her if she just threw away the chance he had given her. Summer wasn't really religious, but after the whole casting story in LA she had decided to thank God once in a while for having her accepted to the agency.

Summer sighed and looked at herself in the mirror as she saw the bathroom door opening behind her, Annie dancing in.

"California, hiding?" she asked and grinned. "Come, on, party."

Summer frowned. Annie had never been so drunk before. She wasn't even able to talk in whole sentences anymore. "Yeah, just a second." Summer said and fumbled in her purse to find her lipgloss. As she applicated it, Annie's face came close to hers, watching her from the side.

"You know…" Annie started and fumbled in her own purse. "You should really take Keira's help with your little sleepy-weepy problem."

As Summer saw that Annie held a tiny bag in the air, with the exact same pills that Keira had offered her at the last party, she dropped her lipgloss and covered Annie's hands in hers.

"Are you crazy? What are you doing with that bag?" she asked reproachfully.

Annie squeezed her hands out of Summer's grip. "Come on, relax. Everyone in here takes them. Don't be so super-duper-perfect all the time." She said and toddled out of the door.

* * *

"Annie, wait!"

As she saw how Annie walked out of the bathroom, the little bag of drugs visible in her hands, Summer grabbed her purse as fast as she could and followed Annie outside.

When she opened the bathroom doors, Summer saw how a huge fight was just about to start – Annie alone on one side, the rest of the girls on the other side, Sarah, Macy, Keira and Fran standing in the background, looking helpless.

The crowd on Annie's opposite side was leaded by Felicia, the bitchiest person walking on earth, according to Annie.

Summer closed the bathroom door behind her carefully and stayed in the background.

"I just saw that damn bag in your hands!" Felicia yelled.

Annie crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well then you should go see an eye doctor, you must be hallucinating." She replied.

"You know you didn't pay for them, you bitch." Felicia growled through gritted teeth.

Annie nodded. "Right. Cuz I don't have 'em."

From her position in the back of the club, Summer could only guess what was going on. It almost looked like the drugs Annie had just shown her belonged to Felicia originally. And Annie had stolen them from her. Given the weirdness of the situation, Summer didn't give a second thought about why Annie had the drugs. It had to be a misunderstanding.

"You give me my stuff back, or something happens." Felicia threatened, her eyes sparkling full of hatred.

Annie put her hands on her hips. "Like what?" she asked teasingly and grinned.

Suddenly, Felicia reached down to her belt to pull a knife out of it, letting it snap open. "Like cutting some scars into your sweet face."

And right from that moment, everything happened in an incredibly fast pace. At the sight of the knife, Annie had broken into a run through the club, Felicia following her. Even though Summer knew it would have been safer to stay where she was, she couldn't help but chasing after the two girls. Her only friend in New York was in danger, and she needed to do anything to help her.

It wasn't a long way she had to follow them because, drunk as she was, Annie stumbled and fell over her own feet, kicking off several tables, pulling down glasses and bottles with her.

When Summer arrived at Annie's and Felicia's position, she saw Felicia hovering over Annie, the knife close to her chest. "No…" she whispered and ran over to Felicia to avert the terrible thing that was just about to happen.

"Felicia, let go of her!" Summer screamed, and Felicia turned around, the hand with the knife still on Annie's chest.

"What do YOU want from me?" Felicia asked and pushed Summer away from her, focusing her attention back on Annie who lay on the ground, crying.

At the push, Summer stumbled over her feet and landed in the piles of glass, a sharp pain flashing through her left hand. She lifted it and saw her blood running all over her arm and a huge cut on her palm.

As she heard some people scream, Summer looked up again, ignoring the pain in her hand. The last she saw of Felicia was her long black hair running out of the door. Summer's gaze went over to Annie who lay on the ground, coughing.

Crawling over to her friend, Summer saw that Felicia had stabbed Annie twice in her stomach, the knife still lying next to Annie's body. Summer's alarm systems went on when she saw how heavily Annie was bleeding out of the wounds, and she looked up, desperate to get some help.

"Someone call an ambulance!" she shouted, looking into Keira's shocked eyes. "Keira, for God's sake, an ambulance!"

Only slowly, Keira seemed to understand what was going on and she got her cell phone out of her purse, dialing the ambulance's number in trance.

Tears fell down Summer's cheeks as she saw how Annie was fighting for her life right in front of her eyes. "Please, someone help me, we need to stop the bleeding!" Summer yelled, looking around to find everyone just staring at her.

She fumbled for a tissue in her purse to press it on the wounds to stop the bleeding. Just as she was about to get her hands on Annie's body, Macy's arm grabbed her from behind. "Don't touch her!" she yelled in panic.

Summer's eyes narrowed, a look of total disbelievement in her eyes. "Are you crazy? She's dying!" Summer screamed and bent over to press her tissues on Annie's stomach. The same let out a huge cough at the pressure that came from Summer's touch.

"Sum, don't touch her!" Sarah cried as well, covering her eyes with her hands, just as if Summer was about to kill Annie instead of wanting to help her.

Summer's tears fell only heavier as she saw how fast her little tissues were full of Annie's and her own blood. It was like a massacre from a bad movie.

"Annie, hold on, please." Summer whispered through her tears, looking around for help desperately. Her only friend in New York City was dying, right in front of her eyes, and nobody was willing to help. It seemed like Summer was living through one of her nightmares, but this time, Seth wouldn't be there to wake up and hold her.

Adrenaline pouring through her veins, Summer looked up to see everyone just standing around the two of them, watching in shock what had happened, none of them ready to help.

Right at this moment, Summer felt like the loneliest person in the whole world.

All that she could do now was to press her bloody tissues on Annie's wounds, praying for the ambulance to come before it was too late.

_Next chapter: Something Went Wrong_


	9. Something Went Wrong

_Hi everyone! _

_Thanks so much for your reviews, I really appreciate that you take your time and review, especially those that comment after every chapter! Serisouly, this means very much! So today here's something cheesy after all that angst and depression of the last few chapters, but be prepared for the real storyline to be revealed in the next chapter!_

_Please r/r ;)_

_Steffi_

**Something Went Wrong**

Seth knew that hospital staff definitely were the most annoying people in the whole world. Especially now that nobody felt the necessity to talk to him, or just to tell him where his girlfriend was, and if she was fine.

Just before he had wanted to go to bed, Seth had received a call from the Manhattan Memorial Hospital, with the urgent plea to get there as fast as possible. The only thing the woman at the other end of the line had told him was that his girlfriend had been involved in a stabbing and was now in the ER.

Great piece of information. To be in the ER could either mean that she had just a scratch on her forehead or that she was already dead. Or something inbetween.

Drumming nervously with his fingers on the reception desk, Seth's gaze wandered around, looking for Summer. He was so concentrated on his search that he didn't notice the brunette nurse standing in front of him.

"Sir, can I help you?"

Just some more drumming as a response.

"Sir?" The nurse's face grew darker.

"Sir!" she finally yelled and caught Seth's attention.

With his eyes wide open Seth stared at her.

"Can – I – help – you?" the nurse asked again, stressing every word extra long.

Seth nodded enthusiastically. "Um yeah, I'm looking for my girlfriend, Summer Roberts? I got a call that she was here…"

Suddenly, the nurse's face softened and she nodded. "Mr Cohen?" she asked and went around the counter to lay a hand on Seth's arm. "Please follow me."

At this comment, Seth's mind almost went crazy. He still didn't know what was wrong with Summer, and if she was seriously hurt or not. And it was definitely difficult to read the nurse's expression.

Trying hard to keep up with the nurse's fast pace, Seth leant forward, looking her in the eye. "Is she alright?" he asked, the tension clearly hearable in his voice.

The nurse didn't look at him and smiled. "Don't worry, she'll be fine." She answered and stopped all of a sudden, opening a door to a trauma room. "There she is."

And with a slight push from the nurse, Seth was in the room where he found Summer lying on the bed, her eyes closed.

"You can take her home when she wakes up. The doctor's already signed the discharge papers." The nurse said as her final sentence and closed the door behind him again.

Seth quickly ran over to Summer as he saw that her left hand was bandaged up to her elbow.

Relieved to an amount that he could have never imagined, he took Summer's unbandaged hand in his and kissed it tenderly, feeling the weight of the thousand stones falling from his heart.

At the touch of Seth's lips, Summer's eyes popped open, staring directly at him. Obviously, it took her a few moments to realize what had happened and why she was there, but after a few seconds of looking around in the room and facing Seth, tears started to fall down her cheeks and she threw herself into Seth's arms where she started to weep almost uncontrollably.

"God, I'm so glad you're here." Summer whispered into Seth's ear while trying to get herself together again.

Seth closed his eyes and hugged Summer as tight as he could, never wanting to let her go. "Baby, what happened?" he asked worriedly and gently pushed Summer away from him to look her in the eyes.

Summer sniffed and pressed her lips together to suppress some more tears that were about to well up inside of her.

"It was so terrible, like…" she paused and wiped some fresh tears away. "Like the nightmares I always have."

Seth cupped Summer's face in his hands and stared at her intensively. "What happened?" he asked again.

Summer closed her eyes for a second and sighed. "It was… we were at the club… and Annie got really drunk, as usual…" again a little break to gather herself. "And she stole some drugs from that Felicia chick who got really mad and wanted them back… but Annie refused to give her the drugs… and…" Another slight sob escaped Summer's mouth as all the events of the evening came flashing back into her mind again.

Seth softly stroked a strand of hair out of Summer's face and didn't say a thing. He knew her too than well to interrupt her now.

With her healthy hand, Summer took Seth's hand away from her face and squeezed it tightly. Looking down to her bandage, she continued. "And then Felicia went all nuts and pulled out a knife and chased Annie through the whole club… and then Annie fell and Felicia hovered about her with the knife in her hand and… and I wanted to stop her and she pushed me away and I fell… and I cut my hand…"

Summer held up her bandaged hand to underline what she was telling. "And when I looked up again Felicia had just stabbed Annie twice."

Seth's face was full of compassion as he listened to every word his girlfriend was telling him. He was now even more relieved than before to have her in front of him with "just" a cut on her hand.

He cleared his throat. "And what about Annie now? I mean, is she…?" Seth didn't dare to ask the question properly. Imagining the wild red head dead was truly frightening.

Summer sniffed and pouted slightly. "She was critical at first because she's lost a lot of blood, but the doctors said thanks to my help she's gonna be fine… she's gonna stay at the ICU over night and then she'll get transferred to a normal room."

"That's a good thing." Seth said and stroked Summer's cheek. "I'm proud that you helped her."

For the first time in hours, a tiny smile escaped Summer's lips. She was proud at herself as well, even though she couldn't get rid of the comments her friends had made when she wanted to help Annie. Why in all world shouldn't she touch her? It was not like her fingerprints would be everywhere, and if that was the reason, there were a hundred of witnesses who had seen that Felicia had stabbed Annie, not her.

A soft kiss on her forehead woke Summer up from her daydreaming.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Seth whispered and leant his forehead on hers, closing his eyes. "Calls in the middle of the night aren't really comforting."

Summer closed her eyes as well and smiled weakly.

After a few moments of silence in which both of them just enjoyed each other's company, Seth took Summer's healthy hand and helped her to get out of the bed. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was almost four in the morning. That had been some exciting night.

The couple slowly made their way towards the entrance, their hands intertwined, Summer leaning on Seth. She had never needed him more than now, and she had never been so glad that he was there.

As they approached the waiting area in the front zone of the ER, Summer spotted Keira, Sarah and Macy sitting and laying across the seats. Summer softly let go of Seth's hand and went up to them.

"What are you guys still waitin' for?" she asked and wrapped her arms around her. After all, it was late January, and everytime the ER doors opened, a freezing breeze entered the building.

Keira yawned and shrugged. "First we stayed to hear about Annie… and then about you." She answered and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, I'm gonna be ok." Summer replied and shivered. "And so's Annie."

Macy nodded and sat up as well. "So we've heard."

An awkward silence filled the room, and Seth wondered what must have happened at the club to shut those usual talk-loving girls up like that.

"You should've listened to us." Keira said and looked at Summer conspirationally.

"Yeah, and I suppose I should've just let her die?" Summer asked with an unnerved tone in her voice.

As none of the girls answered, Summer shook her head and ran over to Seth, grabbing his hand.

"See you on Monday." She said to them without looking back.

Outside the hospital, snow had begun to fall. Summer smiled despite the terrible headache that was coming up. She felt how her stomach started to protest again, but this time she didn't wonder after all the alcohol and agitation the last couple of hours had brought with them.

As Seth and her walked hand in hand towards the subway, Summer remembered that the clothing company planned on giving the model agency a bigger campaign, and she felt her stomach tightening. Thinking about all the stress the finished campaign had brought with it made her feel sick all the way again.

Seth seemed to notice her silence and spun her around all of a sudden, pulling her closer to him. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked and gave Summer a puppy look out of his chocolate brown eyes.

Summer gave him a weak smile and nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry."

Seth's hands wandered up to Summer's face, rubbing small circles on her cheeks with his thumbs that were covered by the soft wool of his gloves. The comfortable feeling of being in Seth's arms sent shivers down Summer's spine.

Seth's lips touched Summer's, and they lost themselves in a long, loving kiss after which Summer buried her head in Seth's chest.

"I love you." She whispered and closed her eyes, exhaustion and nauseousness setting in.

Seth smiled and pulled Summer only closer. He definitely liked this Summer more than bitchy and stressed model Summer.

"I love you too." Looking down on his girlfriend, Seth saw that she was almost asleep, and he shook her softly to wake her up again. "Come on." He said, taking her hand in his again. "Let's go home."

* * *

For the first time in ages, Summer slept like a stone. Her head had merely touched her pillow at 4:30 in the morning when she had started to drift of to sleep. There were no nightmares that night and no more sickening feelings, it had been just a normal night of good sleep.

The first time Summer opened her eyes that Sunday it was almost 1:30 in the afternoon. When she saw how late it was, she jumped out of her bed, obviously just needing some time to realize that it was Sunday, and that she didn't have to go to the agency.

Groggily, she tapped over to the bedroom door to open it when Seth jumped right in front of her face. "Stop right here." He said, grabbed her at the shoulders and turned her around again. "Go back to bed."

"But I've just been sleeping for a zillion hours, I don't wanna go-" Summer protested but didn't have a chance to finish her protest since Seth pushed her towards the bed, throwing her on the pillows teasingly.

"Just do what I say" he said and raised his forefinger in the air. "Just for once."

Summer smiled and crawled back under the blankets, adjusting herself among her pillows. She leant on the back of the bed, her eyes never leaving the bedroom door to see what Seth was up to.

A few seconds later a tray full of pancakes, brownies, omelettes, French toast, orange juice and fresh brewed coffee came through the door, accompanied by a broad grinning Seth.

He carefully went over to Summer's side of the bed, setting the tray down in front of her.

Summer bit her lip at the cuteness that was happening in front of her eyes. Not only had Seth made an opulent breakfast for her, he had also decorated the tray with rose leaves and a wonderful pair of silver, heart-shaped earrings.

Summer struggled to find her words. "Seth, this is so-"

"Adorable, romantic, perfect even?" Seth asked and grinned.

Summer tried to suppress a grin and shook her head slightly. "I was gonna say cute, but I guess the rest works as well." She smiled and leant over to kiss him. "Thank you."

Seth smiled and jumped over Summer on his side of the bed, stretching out in his full length. "So, what d'ya wanna do today?" he asked and yawned. He was still in his pajamas, and Summer figured that he hadn't gotten up that much earlier than her.

As she started to eat some eggs, Summer frowned. Such a simple question, and yet it was hard to find an answer. "Umm, I don't know." She said honestly and giggled a little. "It's like we don't know the city at all."

Seth smiled at her, more at the fact that she was really eating in front of his eyes than to the comment she had just made. So the eating disorder thing had really been some overreaction from him.

"There's a sheet of ice in Central Park, so we could go ice skating…" he said and scratched his chest as another yawn escaped his mouth.

Summer smiled lovingly at him and leant over, pushing a huge piece of Brownie into Seth's wide opened mouth. "Taste it." She said and grinned. "You're a good cook."

Seth almost choked from the huge amount of Brownie dough that suddenly filled his mouth, and he sat up for better chewing. "Mya wamme suffocabe?" he asked, pushing some dough that kept falling out back into his mouth.

"What? Cohen you should really work on your mumbling problem." Summer said and laughed happily at her own joke.

Instead of answering, Seth made a face towards her and concentrated on swallowing the Brownie without suffocating from it.

Completely concentrated on her own food again, Summer didn't notice how Seth's hands slowly came closer towards her stomach, the place where she was the most ticklish. So when his bony fingers started to tease her sensitive skin, she screamed loudly and almost spilled her breakfast all over the bed.

In an useless attempt to stop her boyfriend, Summer balled her healthy hand into a fist and started to hit Seth's back. When he still didn't stop tickling her, sheput the tray on the floor andthrew herself on him, laughing even harder now.

It was only her luck then that Seth didn't feel like playing the tickling game any further but decided to kiss her passionately, his hands slowly moving in and out from under her pj top.

And all of a sudden, neither of them felt like eating anymore.

* * *

The day had just been plain perfect. For the first time ever since Seth and Summer had moved to New York they started to discover the city they lived in. Of course Summer had been to all the important tourist attractions while doing her model shoots, but she had never had the time to look at them or enjoy being there.

But today it was different. Seth was with her, and after the best morning sex they've ever had, Summer felt like walking on clouds. While they visited the Empire State Building, the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge, and Times Square, all they did was cuddling and kissing, holding hands and kissing again.

It was like after all those weeks that were full of stress and during which they didn't have the chances to be with each other like, at all, both Seth and Summer were starving for the love the other one gave them.

By the time the sun had set in the sky, the couple cuddled on a bench under a huge oak tree in Central Park, watching children and their parents ice skating on the overdimensed sheet of ice that was in the middle of a huge meadow. Summer had crawled under Seth's coat for some warmth. She knew she would never get used to temperatures that low, since growing up in California had made her freeze by the time the temperature dropped under seventy.

Seth inhaled the sweet scent of Summer's coconut shampoo as he gave her a kiss on the head, adjusting her woollen hat as he lifted his head again. "You're shivering." He stated and pulled Summer closer to his body for some warmth.

Summer's teeth clattered as she responded.

"Well Cohen that could be because it's freezing cold out here. It must be warmer in Siberia by now."

Seth laughed and shook his head. "I don't think so. But anyways, I think I know what might warm you up again."

Summer smiled and sighed. "Cohen, my lips feel like ice, so I don't think making out is such a good idea."

Seth shook his head and pulled Summer up from the bench, pointing towards the ice sheet in front of them. "Let's go ice skating."

At that suggestion, Summer's eyes widened in shock. "Cohen, you remember that I'm a child of Southern California? The only way I've ever been close to ice was as in having ice cream."

Seth dragged her a little closer to the ice. "I promise it's gonna be fun. I'll catch you if you fall."

Summer stopped in her pace and raised her eyebrows towards Seth, definitely seeming sceptic at the moment. "And that coming from a guy who, under some strange circumstances I still haven't quite understood, achieved to hang himself from the top of his parents house upside down in the pourin' rain."

Making a face towards his girlfriend, Seth let go of Summer's hand and walked over to the ice sheet by himself. He knew very well that it would take Summer only seconds to change her mind and run after him.

As he approached the sheet of ice, Seth started to count the seconds. When he was in front of the skate rental, he had already reached ten. Just as he was about to give his order to the rental guy, a very familiar small hand touched his shoulder and spun him around.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The angry little face with the from the crisp air reddened cheeks and the deep frown that was supposed to be giving him a mad expression made Seth's heart melt. She just looked so damn cute in her winter outfit.

Seth reached out to cup Summer's face in his hands when she shoved them away briskly.

"No time for that Cohen, or are you just being a coward?" she asked teasingly, making her way to the rental guy.

Before Seth realized it, Summer had organised two pairs of iceskates. And even before he had put them on, Summer had already dragged him on the ice.

* * *

"Come on Cohen, don't be such a lameass!" Summer yelled as she turned around to see her boyfriend struggeling to keep his equilibrium on the ice.

To Summer's astonishment, ice skating had turned out to be a lot easier than she had always thought it would be. And so it happened that only after a few minutes, she spun around on the ice like the next ice dance superstar while Seth mainly concentrated on not to land on his butt again. The first two times had been embarrassing enough. Especially for the little kid who had needed to help him up again.

"Summer, 'lameass' is not even a word." Seth yelled back while he was overtaken by five year olds.

Summer drove over to her boyfriend, making a perfect stop in front of him. "Don't change the subject, Cohen. You just wanna hide the truth."

Seth propped his hands on his knees, breathing heavily from the work ice skating brought with it. "What truth do you mean?"

"That you suck at ice skating." Summer said triumphantly.

Seth stuck out his tongue and while doing so, he lost his equilibrium, falling on Summer and causing her to fall over on her butt.

"Oww, shit, damn it!" Summer yelled all of a sudden, a pained expression on her face.

As Seth lifted his head he saw that Summer had been falling right on her bandaged hand which she now held close to her body with her eyes closed.

He reached out for her knee and gently touched it. "I'm so sorry." He said with a guilty tone in his voice.

Summer whimpered a little and opened her eyes again, looking into Seth's.

"It's okay." She said through gritted teeth.

Seth frowned and felt terrible for causing his girlfriend so much pain. "Let me help you." He said and gently took Summer's bandaged hand, placing kisses all over it. "Better?" he asked with one of his puppy eye looks.

Pouting, Summer shook her head and sniffed to underline the miserable situation she was in.

Seth smiled a little and started to kiss her hand again. After a while, he looked up. "Better now?"

A sweet smile crossed Summer's lips. "I suppose it would be terribly romantic if I told you it's better now." She said.

"But it isn't." Seth replied while shaking his head.

Summer pouted again, lowering her gaze. "I'm sorry." She said with a teasingly sad voice.

Seth leant over to kiss Summer quickly, and helped her getting up again.

After she had cleared herself from all of the snow on her pants, Summer looked up at him and smiled. "It's better now." She said and gave him a broad victorious grin.

Just as Seth wanted to lean over to kiss her again, Summer had started to drive away on her ice skates, circling around in the middle of the ice sheet.

"Come on Cohen!" she hissed. "You're never gonna learn it by just standing around."

Shaking his head, Seth started to skate as well. Summer's behavior showed him what a whole weekend of relaxation could change in a person. And if it were up to him, every weekend would be like the day they had had today.

_Next chapter: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished_


	10. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

_Hi folks!_

_First of all, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot! I'm really glad you liked the last chapter, I have to admit that I really liked writing it :)_

_But for now you have to prepare yourself for some drama, much more drama than before... but I hope you'll still like it!_

Oh, and some of you might have guessed the right twist of actions, but read yourself ;)

_Steffi_

**No Good Deed Goes Unpunished**

After returning home from ice skating, Seth and Summer had been cuddling into bed again with some take away pizza and coke, watching some old talk shows on tv. Their perfect weekend ended when they fell asleep in each other's arms after having made love again.

Unfortunately, every good time found an end, and so Monday morning approached faster than either of them would have wanted it to.

For Seth that meant studying for his first important English exam, and for Summer it meant returning to the agency without knowing how the girls would react this time. She had achieved to ban Keira, Sarah and Macy out of her head all Sunday, but as soon as her alarm clock went off in the early morning, they popped into her mind again, their conspirational paroles of not touching Annie repeating themselves like a bad mantra.

Summer decided to give Annie a phone call before going to the agency, and when she found that she felt weak but okay, she didn't think of the girls' comments as so serious anymore.

Seth and Summer parted ways this morning swearing to each other never to fight over Summer's career again. But unfortunately, they weren't living on a tv show, and so trouble hovered over them like the sword of Damocles, only waiting to fall down.

* * *

When Summer came into the agency that day, everyone was staring at her with their eyes wide open.

Summer shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other but decided to put on a happy smile. Throwing her handbag on one of the huge glass tables, she walked over to her girls who were sitting at a table in the back of the huge checkroom.

"So, did anyone hear from Annie?" she asked and sat down with Macy, Keira and Sarah, grabbing a cup of coffee on her way.

Macy nodded. "Yeah, they say she's fine. Still weak, but fine."

Summer smiled, being content with herself. Keira, who was also sipping from the calorie free coffee, pointed out to Summer's bandage on her right hand. "How's your hand?"

Summer waved with her free hand and shook her head. "It's nothing bad. Had to be stitched six times, but I'll be fine. Maybe I'll keep a scar, but hey, it's the palm, no one cares about scars on palms, do they?"

The girls all avoided Summer's gaze but nodded nevertheless. The only one who looked directly at Summer was Sarah, and she, unlike the others, shook her head. "They won't be caring about the scar, but about what that scar has caused." She stated and inspected her perfectly manicured nails.

Summer frowned. This was too much. "What is wrong with you guys?" she asked and cracked her coffee pot on the table. "Why aren't you looking at me? I didn't stab Annie… in fact, I was the only one who was ready to help."

Sarah sighed and looked at the others. "Shall we tell her?" she asked. Keira was the only one to nod slightly, so Sarah decided to tell Summer the secret she hadn't known about Annie yet.

"You know, there's a reason why we told you not to touch her after… you know." She began. "And I kind of can't believe that she didn't tell you… I mean, you were like best friends all the time."

"Tell me what?" Summer asked, her eyes narrowing.

Now Macy jumped in to tell the story. "Annie's not as innocent as she might seem. Didn't you ever think about why she had drugs with her that night?"

Summer blinked. That was a good question. "Um… not really." She admitted, twisting the coffee mug in her hands. She had always assumed that it had been some sort of misunderstanding.

"Annie's been on drugs since she came here, and that would be two years now." Keira explained.

"What?" Summer gasped. This was unbelievable. She had been going out with Annie, had been at her apartment, had been having lunch with her… they had been together like all time! And during that time, the redhead had never seemed to be a drug addict.

"She's the master of hiding it. She needed to hide it, because Fran menaced to throw her out if anybody ever knew. Fran can't prevent us from taking drugs, but she can pressure us." Sarah explained. "And no one is such a specialist at hiding her addiction than Annie."

Summer shook her head. "Okay, but what does that have to do with me? And with me not touching her?"

Macy shook her head in disbelievement. "Come on, Sum. You need to put two and two together here. Annie's a drug addict. Drug addicts don't bother to use a new needle if they need a shot. And you know what comes with that."

Summer felt how her heart started to beat faster. She closed her eyes, and after opening them again, her gaze fell onto the bandage on her right hand. The scar that could cause all the trouble.

"You mean Annie's…" she didn't dare to ask the question any further.

Keira nodded, even though Summer didn't see it, as she was still staring at her bandaged hand. "Annie's HIV positive."

The sound of that words hit Summer like a sledge hammer. Her healthy hand turned into a fist, and her breathing became quicker as the adrenaline poured through her veins. That couldn't possibly be. This was all a bad dream. She had had so many bad dreams in the past few weeks, and just as always, Seth would be there to wake her up any minute now.

If Annie really had HIV… and Summer had touched her wound with a tissue to suppress the bleeding… and she had cut her palm before, her own blood mixing with her friend's blood…

HIV. HIV. HIV.

The three letters kept on repeating themselves in Summer's mind. She had only wanted to help. She couldn't be HIV positive. She just couldn't be. She was still so young. And she had never done anything wrong.

Well, she had done things wrong but never like illegally wrong.

And now this.

All of a sudden, Summer's breast tightened and she knew she needed to get out of the agency as fast as possible.

She cleared her throat, whispering a croaky "Excuse me" towards the girls and stormed out of the agency.

As she was down on the street, the traffic noise of the New York City morning rushhour traffic almost killed off the thoughts that were spinning in Summer's head.

But then she saw her bandage again and the spiral started from the beginning.

HIV.

That couldn't possibly be.

* * *

A few hours later, after taking a long walk through Central Park, Summer was sitting on her living room couch, sipping at a soda and staring out of the window, watching people go in and out of the new doctor's office that had opened up only a few days before.

How ironic that was – the only thing she should be doing by now was to see a doctor. But she just couldn't do it. Not now that everything was so fresh. Summer had always thought that if she would be in a situation like the people on talkshows like Oprah or something the first thing she would do was to go to a doctor to get certainty on what was going on with her.

But the only thing she could do right now was to sit there, completely paralized, sipping at some soda and not being able to move.

Well, at least she was alone. The last thing she needed right now was Seth, and his overprotective manners.

Summer closed her eyes and was just about to begin her personal HIV spiral in her head as she heard the apartment door open.

Her eyes shot up and as she turned around and saw Seth standing in the doorway, unzipping his jacket. Unnerved, Summer let herself fall down in the pillows and pretended she hadn't seen or heard him.

When Seth spotted the dark curls sitting on the couch and staring out of the windows, he smiled and walked over to her, placing a kiss on Summer's head. "What a surprise." He said as he walked around the couch to join her. "Why are you here already?"

Summer didn't look at Seth. This was not fair. The only thing she wanted was some alone time, some time to think only about herself, a thing Seth did most of the time by the way, and what happened? Fate made Seth come home, being in a cruel good mood and asking awfully stupid questions.

"I have a day off." Summer said without looking at Seth.

Seth saw that something was bothering Summer and he laid a hand on her arm, stroking it. "Are you okay?" he asked, his gaze becoming worried.

Summer rolled her eyes and pushed Seth's hand away. "God, yeah, I'm okay. Would you please stop being so damn overprotective?" she snapped and stood up, walking towards the kitchen.

Seth frowned and followed her. "Is this because of Annie? Some bad news?"

Summer put the can of soda on the kitchen counter, propped herself onto it with both hands and sighed.

"No, Annie's fine. And there aren't any bad news." Summer closed her eyes. _Well, at least not for Annie_, she thought.

"What is it, then?" Seth asked, making his way over to his girlfriend to try to comfort her again.

"I said it's nothing!" Summer yelled and stormed out of the kitchen, into the living room. She grabbed her jacket and put on her favorite pair of sneakers.

Seth followed her, like some straying puppy, holding out his hands as if he awaited an explanation for Summer's behavior. "Why are you so upset?" he asked, starting another try to make Summer feel better.

Summer opened the front door, and without answering Seth's question, she said, "I'm going to visit Annie."

Before Seth could say something, Summer closed the door, leaving a very confused and hurt Seth behind.

* * *

Silently, Summer walked into Annie's room and found her sound asleep on the bed. When she closed the door, Annie's eyes shot open and she looked who had come and visited her. When she recognized it was Summer, her pale face turned into a smile.

"Hey, California." She said, her green eyes sparkling.

Summer smiled and sat down at Annie's bedside. "How are you?" she asked, her gaze worried.

Annie waved with her hand. "Oh, me, no problem, I'm fine." She replied and tried to sit up.

Summer could only tell from the pained expression on Annie's face that her friend was really suffering. She looked down at her bandaged hand and bit her lip, before looking into Annie's eyes again.

Annie almost seemed to know what Summer was thinking. "You shouldn't have touched me." She said and looked down, ashamed.

"What, was I supposed to watch you die?" Summer asked reproachfully. "You should have told me. I told you everything about me."

Annie nodded. "Yeah, I should have told you. And honestly, I never have a problem with telling anyone. But with you, it was different…"

Annie paused and took a deep breath. "You are my first real friend, and I didn't want you to think of me as a crack whore."

Summer took one of Annie's hands and gently rubbed it. "I don't think of you as a crack whore, and I would never have. Never." She answered.

"If anything, I would have tried to help you."

Annie laughed. "You'd have been the first to help me. Everybody else who tried to help me just brought me new drugs. I'm just so ashamed." She added and lowered her head again.

"Don't be." Summer said, and she really meant it. There was no reason for Annie to be ashamed. If you didn't have a strong will, this business could eat you alive. And that's what it had done to her new friend.

"But I am." Annie replied. "You came to the agency and you took all this stress without hesitating, without complaining… and without getting tired. You're so strong, and that's what makes me feel so small next to you."

"I'm not strong." Summer said. "You should've seen me at home. I couldn't eat anymore, I didn't wanna eat anymore. I invented stupid lies for Seth why I didn't eat. I didn't sleep – I was always tired, I still am tired. Most of the time I sat at home, crying, because I was so exhausted." She confessed. Finally someone knew what was really going on with her. "And instead of talking to the one person that cares the most about me, I kept my mouth shut. Because I know that Seth would have wanted me to stop the modeling."

Annie raised an eyebrow. "But maybe you should stop. You know, before it's too late."

"Believe me, after this weekend, I'm really considering it. And I don't know if I can do the modeling anyway. I mean, as long as I don't know if I…" Summer's voice traced off as she saw the hurt look in Annie's eyes.

"You need to take a test." Annie simply said. "I waited way too long when I needed to take one… and I don't know… who knows how many people I infected…"

At that statement, Summer's thoughts wandered to Seth immediately, picturing him in front of her inner eye. The day they had together after the stabbing night at the club flashed up in her mind and she started to bite her lip. They had sex… without protection, because Summer took the pill. They had kissed. Long and a lot. Summer's fingernails went up to her mouth and she started to chew them.

Annie took hold of Summer's hand. "You need to tell him too." She said, the urgency of the topic swinging in her voice. "You know you need to tell him."

Summer just nodded and pulled her hand away. "I know." she whispered. "But I think I'm not ready yet. I mean… I could live with it when I have it, because it was my decision to help you, but… Seth being HIV positive just because of me? I don't think I could take that."

Annie nodded. "I understand that." She said. "You can take your time… but in the meantime, don't let him come close to you. You need to prevent the virus from being transfused."

"Thanks Annie." Summer said and hugged her friend carefully, trying her best not to touch Annie's wound. "So how are you gonna be? When will you be able to leave?"

"Um, yeah, I don't know… need to see how some tests turn out, I think." Annie answered, nervously fumbling with the sleeve of her nightgown.

Summer sensed that Annie was hiding something from her. "Is there anything you wanna tell me?" she asked, her eyes not leaving Annie's who tried to avoid her stare.

"Um, no… Nothing. I'll be fine, really. You know, I'm really tired. I should probably get some sleep." Annie said and leant back into her pillows. "But promise me you'll be fine, okay?"

Summer smiled, even though she sensed something was wrong with Annie. "Of course I'll be. And please remember that none of this is your fault."

Annie gave Summer a weary smile. "I'm glad I was given a friend like you." She said and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them again, staring into Summer's deep brown eyes. "Thank you, California."

"You're welcome. Now try and get some sleep." Summer said before giving Annie a final hug. "I'll stop by tomorrow again."

And with that words, Summer made her way out of the room, letting Annie get some rest. On her way out of the hospital, she couldn't get Annie's last words out of her mind.

"_I'm glad I was given a friend like you."_

"_Thank you, California."_

Summer left the hospital with two strange feelings. The first one because she didn't know what was going on with her, the second one because Annie had seemed so strange towards the end of their conversation. And from both feelings, the worries about Annie somehow seemed to be more urgent than the worries about herself.

_Next chapter: Dear God_


	11. Dear God

_Hi people!_

Sorry that it took me a little longer to update, but I always like to have a few chapters written before I post one ;) And sorry in advance that this update is kinda short, it's the shortest chapter in the story, but it made the most sense to split the story like that. And it was actually the frst chapter I had written for this story, so yeah... 

_Thank you for your reviews, I appreciated all of them! _

_Since there were some discussions going on about how a person can be infected by HIV, here's an explanation: HIV can be given from one person to the other either by semen, vaginal secrets or by blood. The virus has to reach the blood circle to get a person infected, and so the chances to get HIV from just kissing are pretty low, yet possible. I hope that explained some things ;)_

_Please R/R!  
Steffi_

**Dear God**

When Summer came home in the evening, Seth was sitting in front of his laptop again, hammering angrily on the keys. When Summer saw the stressed look on his face, she felt terrible all over again.

She cleared her throat and walked over to Seth, who was sitting on the living room couch, the computer in his lap. She bowed her head and sniffed. "Hi." She said shyly.

Seth didn't react at first and kept on hammering words into the computer.

"I-I'm sorry." Summer said as she sat down next to him. "For how I behaved today."

Seth sighed and faced her. "What happened?" he asked, sounding tired.

Summer frowned. She hadn't expected such a peaceful reaction from Seth. "What, you're not angry at me?" she asked.

Seth shook his head. "No. Too tired for that." He replied and leant back into the couch pillows, taking Summer's hand. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to."

Summer swallowed. She wanted to tell him, she wanted to tell him so badly, but something inside of her told her not to. She wasn't ready yet.

She rested her head against Seth's shoulder. "I don't deserve you." She said quietly and closed her eyes. "You're way too nice to such a bitch like me."

Seth closed his eyes as well, the exhaustion from the day he had setting in.

"I think you do deserve me." He replied and laid his head on top of Summer's. "You need someone like me to get your head out of the clouds and back into reality again."

If she hadn't been so tired, Summer would have started to argue with Seth right now. The comment he had just made wasn't true, but how could he know why she had been acting like that in the afternoon?

"These are much bigger issues I'm dealing with, Seth…" she said and felt how she slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

Seth bit his lip at the comment his girlfriend had just made. "Then why are you trying to deal with them alone?" he asked and opened his eyes again. When he saw his and Summer's reflection in the window in front of them, he saw that Summer's eyes were closed.

A sad smile crossed his face, and he turned his head to watch Summer's chest steadily moving up and down. When she slept, she looked like an angel to him. Seth sighed and gave her a kiss on the head, before he took her into his arms and carried her over to the bedroom.

When Seth pulled the covers over her, Summer's small body turned into a ball. A faint moan escaped her mouth, and Seth stroked over her cheek lovingly. He sat down on the floor and rested his head on the bedside, his eyes never leaving Summer's face.

And the longer he watched her, the more worried he became. He knew that something was wrong with Summer, and it tore his heart apart that she didn't want to talk to him about it.

But now that she was asleep there was nothing he could do to change that.

* * *

Calls in the middle of the night didn't mean anything good. At least not back home in Newport Beach. Here, in New York City, where every fifth person was insane, it was normal to be called by strange people – no matter what time of the day it was.

But phone calls in the middle of the night were still unnerving. Especially when the person who called didn't give up the ringing for like five minutes.

Seth groaned at the shrill sounds the telephone made and put his pillow over his head. He didn't want to get up just to tell some pervert or crazy freak that he had gotten the wrong number, and that he didn't know how to contact the aliens that had kidnapped the person on the end of the line e few weeks ago.

He wasn't in the mood to tell Mrs Somersfield from the apartment above them that there was no shrill peeping in the house, and that she should just go to bed again. It was normal that Mrs Somersfield imagined things that weren't actually happening, and usually Seth didn't have a problem to talk nicely to the old and lonely woman who lived above them.

But not now. Not on a Monday night. And not the night before his first important English exam.

It hadn't been the first time since he and Summer had moved to New York that Seth had wished for an answering machine. Their entire apartment was furnished with only new and modern pieces, but the only missing modern thing was an answering machine.

Finally, the ringing had stopped. Seth smiled contently and turned over to his side, taking his head out from under the pillow. Just when he was about to drift off in the sweet world of sleep, the telephone started again.

Seth's eyes popped open and he sighed angrily, shoving the blankets and covers of the bed away.

Seth quickly checked on Summer who was still asleep. He wondered how exhausted Summer must have been all the time, given the fact that not even the urging ringing of the phone woke her up.

So Seth stood up and tapped into the living room. He switched the lights on and covered his eyes with his hands to shut out the blinding light that was created from the ceiling lamp.

When he was able to open his eyes again, Seth walked over to the couch table were the telephone was, slumped down between the pillows and pushed the green button.

"What?"

It was all that he could manage to say. Anyone calling at 5:30 a.m. didn't deserve a nicer answer.

"Sorry, who's speaking?" A female voice on the other end of the line asked. She sounded very upset, and Seth thought that the woman had been crying.

"Um, Seth Cohen. Who's asking?" Seth replied.

The woman let out a tiny sob. "Oh Seth, it's you. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you in the middle of the night, but could I please talk to Summer?"

Seth frowned as he recognized the woman's voice. "Fran? What happened?"

Fran sniffed. "Oh God Seth, it's so terrible. Could I please talk to Summer?" she asked once again.

Seth scratched his head and peeked through the bedroom door. "Yeah, that's not good right now. She's sleeping. Really good for the first time in weeks."

Fran sobbed again. "Okay then… could you please tell her that I'm calling from the hospital?"

"Yeah…" Seth hesitated. "What happened?"

"Oh God, it's so terrible!" Fran cried out and started another round of sobbing.

Seth tapped with his foot on the ground nervously.

"We covered that." He answered.

"Tell Summer that Annie just died." Fran said, her voice shaking.

At that information, Seth's jaw dropped. "You're kidding!"

"No, I'm not. It's true. The nurses found her during their night rounds, hanging on the curtain rail of the shower. They tried their best to save her…" Another sob. "But they were too late. She died only minutes ago."

Seth sat up straight. He ran his free hand through his hair and sighed. "And do they know why?" he asked, his voice low.

Fran sniffed again. "No… she was on the way of recovering and…" she paused and talked to someone else. "Seth, I need to go, Annie's parents are here. Please tell Summer the news."

Seth nodded. Realizing that Fran couldn't see it, he replied with a tiny "I will." And pushed the "off" button.

Not able to stand up, Seth remained sitting on the couch and stared out of the window, seeing how the sun was starting to come up on the horizon. "Go figure," he said. "Cuz one bad thing can't come alone." He still didn't know what was bothering Summer, but he knew that the news of Annie's death definitely wouldn't be cheering her up.

"Who was that?"

At the sound of Summer's voice, Seth turned around. She stood in the bedroom doorframe, looking very sleepy. She was wrapping her arms around herself and narrowed her eyes.

"Fran." Seth answered and turned around, his gaze wandering up and down the horizon which seemed to be burning from the red morning sunlight.

"Now? Isn't that kinda early for a phone call?" Summer asked and walked over to Seth. As she saw the serious expression on his face, her heart started to beat faster. "What's wrong?"

Seth looked her into the eyes and sighed. "Fran called from the hospital." He said.

Summer frowned. "Is something wrong with Annie?"

Seth pressed his lips together and took one of Summer's hands. "The nurses found her tonight. She…"

He watched Summer's eyes widen in horror as she sensed what was about to come.

"She's dead, Summer."

Summer gasped for air. "What? Why?" she asked, her gaze desperate. "I thought the doctor's said she's gonna be okay!"

Seth looked down. "She killed herself." He answered, reaching out for Summer to hug her.

Summer flinched at Seth's touch and suppressed some tears. "I don't understand…" she said and stood up, her gaze wandering around the living room. "She seemed to be fine yesterday… she was going to be okay…" Mumbling to herself, Summer made her way back to the bedroom.

Seth stood up and followed her.

He watched Summer grab her clothes and making her way to the bathroom. "What are you doing?" he asked and sat down on the bed.

"I need to get ready. I need to go to the hospital." Summer answered.

"But the doctors take care of everything… there's nothing you can do." Seth said and stood up, walking towards her.

Gently, Summer pushed Seth's hand away, the words from her last conversation with Annie echoing through her mind.

"_Don't let him come close to you."_

"Don't… touch me." She said and turned around.

Seth held up his hands, a confused look on his face. What was that supposed to mean?

"I'm just trying to help…" he said, but Summer had already slammed the bathroom door in front of his face.

From inside the bathroom, Seth could hear Summer sobbing.

He turned the doorknob to find that it was locked. Knocking on the door, he urged, "Let me in, Summer. I just want to help!"

Summer sniffed. "I know." She said, resting her head on the door. "But I need to be alone right now, please."

Seth looked down at the floor and sighed.

"Please, don't be mad at me. I just… I can't do this right now." Summer's voice said through the closed door.

Seth traced the door with his finger and nodded. "Okay." He said and took a few steps back. "But I'm here for you, you know that?" he asked, his gaze pleading the goddamn door to open.

"Yeah. I know." Summer replied. "But please leave me alone now."

Without answering, Seth left the bedroom, closing the door behind him, wondering what he had done wrong.

_Next chapter: It's Hope That Springs Eternal_


	12. It's Hope That Springs Eternal

_A new chapter today! For all of you who asked when Seth's finally gonna find out about the possibility of HIV... give him one more chapter, then he might see what's wrong..._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed, even if it sounds so cliché, but the reviews mean a lot! _

_So I hope you like today's chapter, so please R/R!_

_Steffi_

_PS: Sorry about the immense depressing mood in the chapters, but I guess that's what the situation brings with it... everyone who knows me should know that I'll come up with some happier scenes eventually... just give me a little more time ;)_

****

**It's Hope That Springs Eternal**

"_Don't let him come close to you."_

"_She killed herself."_

"_I'm here for you."_

"_She killed herself."_

"_I'm glad I was given a friend like you."_

"_Don't let him come close to you."_

Summer's pace fastened towards the hospital's entrance at the hundreds of voices that were echoing in her head. She suppressed some tears as she tried to make them go away, but no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on other things, one sentence was always coming back.

"_Don't let him come close to you."_

Summer knew that Annie must have been kidding when she gave her that advice. How could Summer not want Seth to be close to her after all that had happened? How could she go through this all by herself?

"Excuse me Miss, can I help you?"

Summer looked up from the ground to see a nurse standing in front of her, smiling kindly.

She blinked and nodded. "Yeah… um… I'm here to see…"

Well, that was ironic. There was nobody left to see.

"I'm looking for… um… Fran Hart?"

The nurse nodded, and her face saddened all of a sudden.

"You're here to see Annabel's parents?" she asked as she guided Summer towards the elevators.

Summer frowned at the name Annabel. Annie had never mentioned that her name was Annabel. Summer had always thought that Annie was a normal name, not a short form.

She cleared her throat. "Um, yeah. Kind of."

The nurse smiled and motioned Summer to get on the elevator. "They're in Annabel's room. It's on the thrid floor-"

"I know where it is, thank you." Summer said and waited impatiently for the elevator door to close.

When the nurse's face had finally disappeared, Summer sighed and closed her eyes. An image of Annie jumped into her mind, wearing the green satin dress she had liked so much at the shooting the day she was stabbed. As she remembered how happy Annie had seemed her heart felt heavy.

But before Summer could concentrate any further on Annie, the elevator doors opened and revealed the sight of her room.

Carefully, Summer stepped into the room where Annie's parents stood, packing up the belongings of her daughter. Summer was amazed at how much Annie had resembled her mother.

Suddenly, two familiar hands grabbed Summer by the shoulders and turned her around. Summer was shocked as she saw Fran in front of her, her eyes red and puffy from crying, her face totally pale, without any traces of make up.

"Summer." Fran said and broke into a cry, hugging Summer as tight as she could. Summer clung onto Fran, her head still spinning from everything that had happened the past few hours.

But unlike Fran, Summer wasn't able to cry. She didn't feel like it. All she felt was a numbness inside that made her resist to any possible feelings.

After a while, Fran broke free from the embrace and took Summer's hand to lead her into the room, over to Annie's parents.

"Mr and Mrs Mallone, this is Summer Roberts. She was very close friends with Annabel."

Summer tried to smile as she stretched out her hand for Annie's mother. Instead of shaking it, Mrs Mallone bent over towards Summer and hugged her, even tighter than Fran had hugged her a few seconds before.

If Summer felt anything that day, it was a disgust against everyone who touched her. No, it was a disgust against herself. Against the fact that she allowed people to touch her, to get themselves into the danger of getting the HI virus from her.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you. Annabel told us so much about you." She said, her voice croaky from crying.

Summer gave her a sad smile and folded her hands in front of her, fumbling with her bandage on her left hand.

Mrs Mallone took a small envelope out of her purse and handed it to Summer. "We found this in her nightstand. It has your name written on it." She said.

Hesitating, Summer took the envelope. In pink, her favorite color, Annie had written "Summer" across it.

The first tears since she had entered the hospital came into Summer's eyes as she realized that Annie had never called her by her real first name. She had always been "California" to her.

"Thank you." Summer silently replied and twisted the envelope in her hands. Suddenly, the whole atmosphere of the cold clinic room seemed to lace up her breast, making it harder to breathe. She quickly cleared her throat, excused herself and stormed out of the room, down to the streets, where the air wasn't really fresher, but better.

Now the tears started to fall, and Summer pressed the envelope tight to her chest. "I can't believe you did this." She cried and looked up towards the sky. "You told me to be okay and you run away? That's not fair, ANNABEL!"

Crying tears of desperation, Summer sunk down on the pavement, pulling her knees close to her body, burying her head in her arms, and hoping for Seth to wake her up from this nightmare called life.

* * *

Summer had been twisting the envelope in her hands almost all day, and when she had finally found the courage to open it, she had to keep herself from starting to cry all over again. Annie had given her her favorite pair of earrings, with a small letter that told her they would fit perfectly the bracelet she had been given from Seth last Chrismukkah.

The earrings had been accompanied by a small note that told Summer to be strong and go on – and to get tested. A sad sigh escaped Summer's lips as she thought about the situation. Annie told her to be strong, and she herself had run away. How unfair was that?

After having been walking through Central Park almost all day, Summer decided in the late afternoon to go home and lie down. All she wanted right now was some rest and peace. As she headed for the subway station she passed the NYU campus, and couldn't help but watch the people around there.

Students were laughing, carrying their books, some of them were on their cell phones, some seemed to be highly concentrated or lost in thought… Summer bit her lip as the realization of what she might be missing came to her mind.

Had it really been the right decision to throw that life – and a safe future – away for such a thing called modeling career that had caused her more problems than joy during the last couple of months? The best thing – ironical of course – was that the biggest of those problems might have been running through her veins right at that moment.

For a short moment, Summer closed her eyes and inhaled the cold winter air deeply, letting it clear her mind. All of a sudden, images of Marissa and Ryan being happy sorrow-free students at Berkeley came flashing through her inner eye, just like another reminder of what she missed due to modeling. She saw them sitting at the beach under the warm California sun, cuddling, kissing, and enjoying life as it was. They were still so young and that was exactly what they should be doing.

Summer frowned, her eyes still closed. She knew that it wasn't right to feel ten years older than she actually was. She hated to take care of grocery shopping, monthly rents (although she had to admit that the rent thing wasn't really her problem – the parents took excellent care of that), she hated coming home to an apartment that might have nice furniture and an even nicer view of the city, but that had never been a home for her over the past few months.

She hated to fight with Seth, most of the time about her profession, even if they had spent a wonderful weekend together. The thought of the happy hours they had had together on Sunday seemed to take all the weight from her heart for a second. But the weight came back as she realized that every single kiss with just tiny scratches in both of their lips could have given Seth the virus, too. Okay, maybe she was overreacting at that point, but the double-sex could definitely have sealed the deal for Seth.

IF Summer had HIV. Annie had told her to take a test, but truth be told, she was just too scared of it. At least at the moment. A positive result could change her life forever, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to face this situation.

With a deep sigh of despair, Summer's eyes flickered open, and she suddenly spotted Seth in the distance, talking to two other boys. They were staring in a book one of the other boys was holding, obviously talking about it. Seeing that scene stirred up more emotions than Summer could take. Seth was one of those sorrow-free students she had just seen in her mind, and she, his girlfriend, was facing so much trouble.

Before Seth could see her, Summer walked away, her pace fastening with every step she took. She felt a terrible headache coming up, and thinking about Annie, her suicide and her HIV brought back the well-known nauseousness she had been having for weeks now.

During her ride on the subway, the thoughts in Summer's head kept on spinning. She couldn't get one single thought straight, it was like a million different things wanted to tell her all at the same time that she had to deal with them. But she was so tired of being grown-up. She was tired of acting way more adult than her actual age was.

And as she exited the subway, Summer knew that she didn't want to keep on modeling. As a girl, she had always dreamt of it, had imagined it as the most wonderful job available on earth. But now she knew better. All that she wanted now was to stand right next to Seth and the two boys on the campus, discussing about whatever was written in that book they had been holding. She wanted to go to college. Even if it required to start studying again.

Finally arrived at her building, Summer had almost reached her door when Mrs Somersfield from above their apartment just made her way down the stairs, stopping and smiling friendly as she saw her.

"Hello, my dear." She said and smiled only broader.

Summer forced a tired smile and searched her purse for her keys. It was only her luck that she didn't find them at first.

Mrs Somersfield saw that as an opportunity to start a little stairway chatter.

"I saw your picture in that women's magazine at my dentist's." she announced and grinned.

Summer nodded and kept on searching for her keys. "Elle." She replied.

"Well I don't know which one it was, you know, once you're my age, these magazines aren't so interesting anymore." Mrs Somersfield said. "What would an old crow like me need tips about make up or lipstick?" she added and laughed.

At the word "crow", Summer actually looked up, her eyes widening twice their size. She had never heard an old woman making jokes about herself. Well, she was still in New York City after all, so she decided she shouldn't wonder. Blinking twice, Summer lowered her head towards her purse again and continued searching for her keys.

Suddenly, Summer felt Mrs Somerfield's skinny hand touching her cheek, and she looked up once again.

"Life isn't all about success." Mrs Somersfield said and smiled. "You're still so young, darling, and yet you seem so exhausted. Don't waste your energy while you're young. Believe me, you will need a lot of it in the future."

At those words, Summer pressed her lips together to avoid some tears from coming. Instead of answering, she just nodded, her hand finally locating the keys in her purse.

Clearing her throat, Summer pointed towards her door. "I'm pretty tired." She said, her voice croaky. "I'll probably lie down."

Mrs Somersfield nodded. "Sleep well, darling." She said and made her way to the stairs that led down.

As Summer pushed the key into the lock, she heard Mrs Somersfield's voice once again.

"By the way. You looked really beautiful in the magazine."

Summer plastered a huge smile on her lips, turned around and thanked Mrs Somersfield politely for the compliment. After that, she unlocked the door and disappeared inside.

Closing the door, Summer leant against it and sighed. Now it was official.

Life sucked.

* * *

When Seth came home from the campus that evening, he found Summer sleeping on the living room couch, the tv's blue light illuminating the darkened room. Careful not to wake Summer, Seth took off his shoes and coat and went over to take a look at her.

And what a miserable picture she gave there. Two empty bottles of red wine were on the table, a little amount of it still in the glass that Summer held in her hand. For a short moment, Seth wondered how Summer had managed to fall asleep with a glass of red wine in her hand without spilling any of it on the cream colored couch. He decided not to think about it any further and softly pulled the glass out of her grip.

Summer twisted a little as she felt his touch, but remained being asleep.

Kneeling down on the floor next to her, Seth sighed and stroked a few strands of her long dark hair away from her face. If he hadn't known that the bottles both had been half empty already, he would have worried even more.

She looked so beautiful when she slept. A soft smile crossed Seth's lips as he told himself that she always looked beautiful. That was only one of the million reasons why he loved her so much.

As Seth lowered his head to give Summer a soft kiss on the cheek her eyes flipped open and she pushed him away instantly.

"Whatta ya doin'?" she babbled and sat up angrily.

Seth felt a little taken aback from Summer's angry reaction, but he considered the alcohol as the source of the evil.

"I'm giving you a kiss." He said and lowered his head again.

This time, a slap on his face ended the action abruptly. "Stayaway fromme." Summer mumbled and got up from the couch. The huge amount of alcohol she had been drinking went only more to her head as she stood there. All of a sudden, Summer lost her equilibrium and stumbled over her own feet, falling on her knees, and taking one of the two wine bottles with her.

Seth tried to reach Summer in her fall, but he was too slow, and so Summer slumped down to the floor, the bottle breaking into millions of pieces.

"Damn shit." Summer mumbled and started to collect the sherds with her healthy hand.

"Let me do this." Seth offered and held out his hands.

Summer only shoved him away. "Let me."

Seth shook his head and started to collect the sherds nevertheless. Summer didn't even notice.

Unfortunately, collecting sherds when you were drunk was not the best thing. So in addition to her bandaged hand, Summer jabbed her healthy forefinger with a tiny sherd, a small line of blood running down her hand.

"God, what is it with cuts on my hands these days?" she cursed and got up to put a plaster on the scratch.

Seth immediately stood up to follow her. "Summer, wait." He found it amazing how fast Summer was able to walk all of a sudden, even though she was still swaying heavily.

When Seth entered the bathroom he took the plaster roll Summer was holding and began to cut a piece out of it that fitted her wound. Just when he was about to put it on her finger, Summer took her hand away.

"Don't touch me." She said and ripped the plaster out of Seth's grip.

"Summer, you're drunk, let me-"

"Leave me alone." It was the only reaction Seth got from Summer.

His heart sank and he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply for a second. He detested drunk people. It only reminded him of the terrible summer he had had when his mother had been to rehab. And ever since that summer, Seth swore to himself never to get as drunk as Summer was right now.

Seth opened his eyes again to find Summer watching herself in the mirror, pouting her lip.

He would have given everything to know what was on her mind at that moment. He softly touched her shoulders to guide her towards the bed when she twisted out of his grip. "I said don't touch me." Summer said and toddled out of the room.

Her words were like a knife being pushed right through Seth's heart. With a desperate glance at himself in the mirror, he turned out the bathroom lights and walked in the sleeping room to find Summer already blacked out on her side of the bed.

Shaking his head, Seth pulled the covers over her motionless body and pressed a longing kiss on her forehead, trying to suppress his own tears. For a short moment, he rubbed his face with his hands, staring intensively at sleeping Summer.

When he remembered the chaos in the living room, he turned the sleeping room lights out as well and started to clear up the mess Summer had produced.

And he wondered if his silent prayers for Summer to be alright again were heard or not. Well, with Summer's condition over the past few weeks, Seth would probably have assumed that the prayers wouldn't be heard.

But he also knew that it's always hope that springs eternal.

_Next chapter: No More Lies_


End file.
